Cobwebs
by Squalrus
Summary: We fought the monsters beneath each other's beds and in our closets, finding nothing but forgotten toys gathering dust. We were brave for each other, attached at the hip - until you abandoned me to fight the cobwebs left in your wake.
1. Chapter 1

I really don't know what this story is about yet, I just felt like writing something and this just . . . appeared. So yeah. I hope you enjoy it - and if you do, please review!

Oh my gosh, that rhymed.

I feel skilled right now. ;)

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**Chapter One**

_"Wait for me!" Clary cried, running as fast as she could to keep up with Jace. "Jace-eeey!"_

_Jace stopped running and looked back at Clary with an exasperated sigh. "When did you get so slow?" he asked cheerfully, grinning down at her as she hurried toward him. _

_The little girl pouted back. "That's not fair!" she whined. "You're taller than me - you run faster!"_

_Across the lawn, a woman with red hair a shade darker than Clary's laughed gracefully. "Look at that," she said to the blond woman beside her. "Only seven, and already having lover's spats!" _

_The two mother's shared a series of loud giggles, taking care not to spill their tea as they watched the children from the porch. Celine took a sip from her cup, smiling happily to herself while the scents of summer wafted through the warm air and the sun shone brightly on her blond hair. It was just like her son's; warm golden silk, changing shades in every light._

_"Just imagine when they're older," she joked. "I'm almost afraid to find out, eh, Jocelyn?"_

_"Huh! That'll be a sight to see!" Jocelyn replied, twisting her hair up and holding it with a chopstick._

_The two children had taken off again, oblivious to the jokes of their mothers as they raced to the huge tree at the back of the yard, scrambling to the rope ladder hanging from one of its thick branches. Jace reached it first and quickly started climbing, making it half-way up before Clary cried out below._

_"What'd ya do now, Clary?" Jace asked impatiently. He always had to wait for Clary, lately. Still, he cared about her, and she seemed to obtain cuts and bruises to no avail.  
_

_On the ground Clary sniffled, pushing herself up from the dry grass to show her red, grass-stained knees. She opened her mouth to speak, but took a single look at Jace, already hanging effortlessly from the ladder, and broke into tears. She felt so clumsy next to him, tripping and falling behind while he moved agiley through everything he did. It was always her who had to call out for him to wait up, always her watching him from behind and wishing she could be more like him. If only some of his ability could rub off on her, then maybe she wouldn't always be holding him back, she thought._

_"Hey," Jace asked from in front of her, having jumped down from the ladder as skillfully as a leopard. He took her face in his hands, pulling grass from her long red braids and staring at her red-rimmed, teary eyes. "Are you okay?"_

_Clary shook her head, squeezing her eyes shut and whimpering, rivers cutting down her cheeks. Jace was always the one worrying, and he looked every bit the guardian angel as the bright sunlight illuminated his blonde hair like a halo glowing around his face. She wished that for once, she could be the one worrying. _

_That she could be the angel.  
_

_She felt Jace wrap his arms around her, opening her eyes to find him hugging her gently. His kind voice filled her ears, his breath tickling her ear as he said, "It's only scrape. It's okay. . . "_

_She sniffled, letting herself be comforted by her best friend's warmth._

-x-x-x-x-

I grumbled, rolling over just far enough to smash down the off button. My alarm clock had been blaring, and to me it always seemed too soon for morning to come. I hated mornings.

With mornings came school.

With school came Jace.

With Jace came pain.

That was how it had been since September. It was like he was too good for me now that they had begun high school, and he had left me in the background, like a forgotten toy that sat and gathered dust. Now I was left to fight the cobwebs.

I sat through my morning classes, trying futiley to ignore Mr. Tall, Blond and Traitorous himself, sitting a mere three seats away from me at the other back corner of the room. We both preferred the back, yet he stayed as far away as possible and acted as if I never existed.

As if he had never cared.

I copied the notes from the projector diligently in an attempt to block him from my mind. It was hard to believe that the same person so determined to make me feel like shit could ever have been like the little boy plaguing my childhood. Everything I had done had been with him or Simon, but mostly him. We had unintentionally left Simon in our dust countless times, only realizing when he finally complained about not understanding a single thing we were saying. We had had so many complicated jokes, secret phrases, looks, and entire alternate lives that only Jace and I knew about.

But all that was gone, now.

I stole a glance at Jace across the room, my heart torn between hoping he wasn't paying attention, and desperately wishing that for once he was staring back. For once, maybe he would smile, his eyes glittering with the sparkle that used to be so familiar. Maybe he would see that I cared, that I could forgive because it still wasn't too late.

I kept groping for an explanation, but found none. I had done nothing to provoke this, yet I had shown up one day in September to find my greetings ignored, my jokes sneered at, and my friendliest smiles met with condescending laughs and rolling eyes.

Even after nearly a month, the pain still throbbed in my chest.

Simon was still by my side, but he and I could never share the same jokes, the same tales, or read each other's movements like Jace and I had been able to.

Jace could never be replaced. It was unfathomable. Impossible.

Inescapable. Just like his new friends.

"Hey, Jace! Looks like you have another peeping Tom!" Isabelle laughed icily from a few desks over. The class snickered, a few giving obnoxious cat calls as Jace grinned self-righteously, welcoming the attention. I felt myself blush, cursing as the blood rushed to my cheeks.

"Watch out," Alec called loudly from beside Jace for the whole class to hear. "Before you know it, she'll be waiting outside your window!"

The classroom erupted with laughter and I hid myself behind my hair, pulling my large hood over my head as far as possible. Leaning over my desk in embarrassment, I pretended to be too busy writing to notice their jibes.

"Hoods off, Clary!" the teacher chastised over the growing chatter. "Quiet down, quiet down!"

Slowly, I lowered my hood, smoothing my wild hair briefly with my hands before settling back to my farce. I thought I would grow used to the taunts after a while, but so far the Demonic Duo was not helping in my progress. Alec and Isabelle had made it very clear where they stood on my list of Pain in the Ass People. They had always tormented me.

It didn't help matters that Jace had helped them form the Trio. He knew almost all my weaknesses, and all the right and wrong buttons to push. Before they had been no more than a frustration, but with his help, they had turned my life into something just short of a living hell.

Or so I thought.

Turns out they were a long way from hell.

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Did you like it? What do you think is gonna happen? Hmm. . . . .

R&R


	2. Chapter 2

One word just sums up everything right now: WOW.  
This story is so much more popular than I thought it was gonna be. . . . I'm kind of in shock right now.  
I would like to give a little shout out to BlondeHairBlueEyes14, Be the Crayon, and Accident Prone Klutz for being the first people to REVIEW! YAY!  
HUGE thanks to Serenity Shadowstar for pure awesomeness (and a little bit of mind-reading?) Thanks a ton - you rock! ;)  
Also, am I the only one who thinks seven-year-old Clary and Jace are absolutely _adorable?  
_I don't know why, but for some reason, I think that I Want To Hold Your Hand (the cover from Across the Universe where it's sung by a girl) works really well with this chapter. For more than one character. ;)

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**Chapter Two**

"Hey, Clary!" Simon called from across the cafeteria. He waved his hand in the air, ushering me to the table. Maia laughed cheerfully, grabbing my arm and playfully dragging me down.

"Woah!" I fell onto the long bench running along the table, only to slip off the edge of it clumsily and topple to the linoleum floor.

Simon looked down at me laying on the floor, a bemused grin wide across his face. "Sit much?" He chuckled, holding down a hand to my face and pulling me back to my feet. Shaking his head, he said affectionately, "Dumbass."

"Hey!" I smacked him over the head, laughing despite myself. "Not fair! It was Maia's fault!"

"Whatever," Maia giggled, smiling and sticking out her tongue.

"Eew!" I squeaked at her.

Simon pretended to look revolted and said, "You do realize you were just chewing something - don't you?"

"Yeah," Maia replied nonchalantly, taking another bite of her cheese-burger. "So?"

Simon and I turned to each other, simultaneously screwing up our noses. Then he guffawed and I started laughing again, Maia's giggling joining in.

But it was not to last.

"Disgusting," Alec sneered as he walked by, making a bee-line for the table a few over from us.

"Loser's!" Isabelle called from the table, cupping her hands around her mouth. Beside her, Jace didn't even try to hide his amusement, taking a swig from his bottle of root beer with a smug grin on his face.

Isabelle ran a hand over his back, looking up at him through her thick black lashes. Jace saw her and immediately spewed out his soda, spraying it across the table onto Alec just as he reached them. Disgusted, Alec wiped a hand over his face and glared at Jace.

"Dude, I'm sorry!" Jace apologized, holding up his open hands. "Blame Izzy, if anyone."

We all laughed so hard we were falling over the table top for support, still watching their table for entertainment. "Oh, my God!" Maia exclaimed, covering her mouth with her tanned hand as she continued to laugh.

Jace grasped Isabelle's wrists, prying her off as she clung to him. "Isabelle! Get the fuck off!"

"That's what he said," I joked to Simon and Maia through my giggles. They both slammed their hands over their mouths, unsuccessfully trying to hold back their boisterous laughter. I didn't even try to hide mine anymore, giving up entirely since I knew it wouldn't work, anyways.

Somehow all the tables surrounding us had managed to completely miss the entire fiasco. Even through the usual chaos of the cafeteria, our laughter was beginning to draw attention. The table between ours and Jace's began giving us strange looks.

For some reason, this made us laugh even harder.

Isabelle glared over at us, her lips curling back to reveal her perfectly whitened, perfectly straight teeth. I was pretty sure she was trying to look scary, and if I wasn't laughing so hard, it probably would have worked. She hissed angrily, her expression still looking hurt from Jace casting her off.

Jace raised an eyebrow at us and stayed silent, instead narrowing his eyes at us. I shivered, my laughter stopping abruptly. I knew that glare, but it had never been this cold before. It swept over me, seeming to seep all the happiness out of my very soul.

Beside him, Alec was staring at us, and I could swear I saw him smiling briefly behind his hand as he wiped the root beer from his face. He licked his lips, still looking at us, then suddenly brightened and exclaimed to Jace, "Dude - I taste good!"

I burst out laughing again and looked down at the table. When I raised my head again and glanced back over at their table, Alec caught my eye and stealthily gave me a thumbs up when Isabelle and Jace were facing the other way.

I smiled back, giggling softly to myself and walking up to the lunch line. "Gettin' pizza," I told Simon before he could ask.

Maia perked her head up. "Yo - get me some, too!"

Simon laughed and said, "I really don't think you need any more food, Miss 'I-talk-with-my-mouth-full'."

I took her money anyways and stood in line impatiently, shaking my head to myself as I thought how crazy we were. Out of the corner of my eye, I was vaguely aware of someone coming into line behind me, but didn't bother seeing who it was. I didn't really care.

"It's impolite to stare, you know," Jace said from behind me.

I whipped my head around, my hair flying around my face in the momentum. "Oh," I said icily. "So you're talking to me now?"

He breathed out angrily. "Piss off, Clary."

I smirked. "You know - by now you should know I don't take orders," I said, keeping my voice level and staring up into his golden eyes. "Especially not from people like you."

If I hadn't been watching his eyes, I would have never been able to see the hurt that flashed across them at my words. He quickly hid it, clenching his teeth and hissing, "And what kind of person am I, then?"

I felt myself tense as his eyes filled with flames, but replied anyway. "A good-for-nothing narcissistic asshole who treats friends like shit." I snatched three pieces of pizza from the tray and payed for them in record time, all but running back to my table. As I passed a fuming Jace, I whispered furiously, "But then again, I guess I'm not your friend - am I?"

Still shaking from the effort it had taken to speak, I made my way to my table. Jace called my name angrily, but I ignored him. "Clary!" he called again.

I kept walking. I could see Maia and Simon's worried faces and knew they had seen the whole exchange. I sat down and bit into my slice, morosely handing the other two to my _real_ friends. I handed Maia her change and answered what I thought was Simon's unspoken question. "I knew you'd want one if you saw both of us eating."

He shook his head, but took the slice. "I never thought you'd have it in you," he mused, staring over at me with respect in his eyes.

Maia patted my head in an attempt to lighten the mood again. "You got guts, girl!"

I forced a smile, but my heart wasn't in it and they could tell. They shared a look and ate their pizza in silence, the three of us once so slap-happy, now immersed in my personal raincloud.

My eyes flickered momentarily to Jace where he sat, staring frustratedly back.

Make that a thunderstorm.

Lunch ended and I scrambled to my locker. Swinging it open, I swapped my books and was reaching down for a pencil when someone leaned against the locker next to me. His tall form cast a shadow on me as I stood up, feeling for all the world as if I was two feet tall.

Slamming my locker closed, I stalked off to my next class, knowing he would follow me.

Jace grabbed my arm, swinging me around to face him as he looked down at me angrily. His eyes blazed beneath his bright flaxen hair, the sun streaming through the window beside us hitting the side of his face. "Is that what you really think of me?" he asked seethingly.

"Well hello to you, too, Jace," I said, turning away and trying to walk away. Jace tugged my arm and pulled me back to him, his golden eyes blazing as they bore into my skull.

"You have no idea," he growled, then pushed me away with so much force I collided with the row of lockers, the crash ringing through the busy hall.

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I really need to start writing shorter Author's Notes. . . . . . 


	3. Chapter 3

**So I was digging through an old box that I STILL haven't unpacked from almost a year ago . . . and I found Grimm's Complete Fairy Tales. I swear I actually started jumping up and down - I was that happy. ;)**

**Anyways, I hope you like the chapter!  
**

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Chapter Three  
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"Clary!" someone called near me as I gathered my books from the floor where they had scattered.

"Oh, my GOD!" another person said from the swiftly-growing crowd.

"Clary, are you alright?"

"Oh, my gosh!"

"What happened?"

Worried chatter filled my ears, but quickly turned to no more than incessant buzzing. It was quickly giving me a headache and I ducked my head farther back in my hood, shaking my hair over my eyes as they began to sting.

No one would see me cry.

No one.

"I'm fine," I said quickly, my voice coming out harsher than I had meant. My voice broke on the last word as I wriggled through the crowd. "Get out of my way. Yes, I'm fine!"

I bolted down the slippery hall, my feet tapping loudly as I ran to the open door. The bell rang just as I stepped over the thresh-hold and made my way quietly to the back corner. The teacher's voice became a slight hum in the background and I let out a shaky breath as quietly as I could. I let myself slump against the wall, hiding behind the thick curtain of my red hair as the first tears began to fall.

We used to know each other so well, but in one month, everything seemed to change. I knew he had a heart somewhere, but now it seemed non-existent. He once had one of the biggest hearts I knew. . . .

But now it was gone.

I debated sneaking a glance at Jace, even though I knew I shouldn't after what he had done in the hall. But my reasonable side was losing fast. Peeking through a small crack in my hair, I saw him sitting across the room. His head was toward the teacher, his jaw muscles working as he sucked on the inside of his lip. He tapped a pencil against his thigh to an unknown rhythm, his other hand drumming on his knee.

I tried not to smile; he always used to do that.

As soon as the teacher had stopped talking, the class erupted with noise. Immediately, the boy beside Jace turned on him and said with disgust, "Dude - you hit a girl, man!"

Jace tensed, his fingers curling around the pencil. I could tell he was anxious, but there was something else to it that I just couldn't make out. "Stay out of it."

"'Stay out of it'? Is that all you have to say?" the boy fumed in obvious distaste. "What's you fucking problem?"

"You don't understand," Jace mumbled grudgingly, his eyes on his hands as he twirled the pencil around in his fingers.

Another boy walked up, clearly trying to make up for his height by acting cooler than he really was. He was dressed in nearly all in black, his shirt torn in the sleeves where his thumbs poked through and on his elbows. Hopping effortlessly onto the top of Jace's desk with a rattle of chains, he hooked his thumbs through his belt-loops and sneered, "What's not to understand, dick-wad. You threw a girl around," he tilted his head down to stare at Jace. "That's _por lo que no enfrie_."

Jace raised an eyebrow and looked up at the boy standing on his desk. "English, _mi amigo_. You're not in Mexico anymore."

The boy's eyes turned to slits, and the two bore holes in each others skull's. "That's_ so not cool_," he enunciated slowly, as if speaking to a baby. Smirking, he crouched down to look Jace in the eyes, raising his voice an octave as he asked, "Who thinks pretty boy deserves a lesson?"

There were cheers from around the class, causing the teacher to rise in his chair. "Quiet down!" The cheering drowned out his words. His face turning red, he yelled, "QUIIIEEEEEEET!"

All the heads swiveled to him as he puffed out his cheeks. "All of you! Settle down right now or _so help me, there will be essays to write!_"

The boy leaped off Jace's desk, daring the teacher to say something. "What_ kind_ of essays, Mr. Warner?" he asked cockily. "I _really enjoyed_ that one on tape worms."

The teacher puffed up again. "Report to the office, Raphael."

"Oh, but where's the fun in sitting on a bench. I'd rather hang from the lights!" Raphael said mockingly, jumping atop the nearest desk.

"Office, Raphael," Mr. Warner spoke shortly, his words clipped as his face boiled.

"But-"

"RIGHT. THIS. SECOND!" he yelled, his head on the verge of exploding from all the interior pressure. Raphael grinned dangerously, but loped easily out the door.

"Better watch your back, Wayland!" he called before slamming the door hard enough to rattle the thumbtacks from the cork-board and send papers flying from our desks.

-x-x-x-x-

"Damn, there's somethin' freaky about that kid," Simon commented later when I told him about it. He rummaged through his locker for a second, closed it with a loud slam, then waved a crumpled poster in my face proudly.

"What's that?" I asked, glad my eyes were no longer puffy from crying.

The paper was shiny and decorated with chunky letters, but I had to smooth it out before I could make out the words. "The 'Yet-to-be-Named'?" I read aloud. Raising my eyebrows, I asked, "Really, Simon? Really?"

"Yeah, Eric wanted one name, I wanted another, and everybody else didn't give a shit, so. . . "

"So, this is all you came up with?" I asked, pointing incredulously at the abused piece of wannabe-poster.

"Aw, c'mon, Clary!" Simon whined, his glasses slipping down his nose as he shook his head. "We got a gig! Be happy!"

"Seriously?" I hadn't been able to read the smaller print through all the folds. "When?"

"Friday night. It's down at the coffee shop, but still," he said, as if he wasn't secretly freaking out to the point of exhaustion about it. But I could tell - he was way too enthusiastic to be convincing.

"Congrats, Simon!" I said, pulling him down to my height so I could give him a hug. "You told Maia yet?"

"Yup!" he replied, his eyes shining. "She already said she'd come."

I laughed. "Holy crap! Just ask her out already, won't ya?" I teased, knowing Simon would need some prodding. He was too shy around the people he liked to do anything productive.

Well, at least most of the time.

"Aaah," he scratched his head, rubbing the back of his neck as he said, "I don't know, Clary."

"Why not?" I asked, leaning my back against the lockers. "I know you've like her for a while now, you know."

"Seriously?" he asked, his eyes the only thing moving as he tilted his head toward the floor. He snapped them back, studying the bland white surface.

"No duh." I blew a strand of hair away from my eyes. "You're not exactly difficult to figure out, Simon."

He gave an awkward laugh under his breath, slung his backpack over his shoulder, and pushed his glasses back up his nose. It was a futile battle, but they managed to stay in place for the time being. "I guess I'll see you Friday, then?" he asked.

I nodded, opening my arms for a hug. When his arms wrapped around me, even though it was brief, I saw someone watching over his shoulder. He whipped his head around the other way the moment I made eye contact, vanishing into the frenzy of students in a flash of gold and sunshine.

_Oh, Jace_, I thought sadly, knowing nothing could ever be the same.

Waving good-bye, Simon, too, disappeared into the crowd. I bit my lip, closing my eyes and taking a deep breath. I didn't want to even try talking to Jace after today, but I knew I needed to say something.

He was keeping something from me, that was for sure. I knew he didn't want me to know what, but he should already know that that had never stopped me.

Digging through my bag, I procured a pen and a measly strip of paper, just enough to write what I needed.

_What happened to your heart, Jace?_

I slipped it through the top of his locker, not caring to sign who it was. He would know it was me, because who else in this school even knew he _had_ a heart?

No one, because all they ever wanted was to get in his pants. For all they knew, that_ was_ his heart.

I snorted in my head - I guess you could call it a mind-snort - and grinned to myself. I may have had one hell of a day, but at least I still had my brain.

. . . . . Sort of.

I was proved wrong when I opened the door, colliding with another of the sexily tall and handsome the moment my foot was out the door.

My face buried itself in his shirt as we crashed into each other, each of us giving a startled, "Sorry!" as we retraced our steps. The two of us jumped backwards, only then noticing the almost black hair, the slightly softened angular features, and the dark blue eyes staring into my brain.

Alec Lightwood.

Oh, crap.

"Sorry!"I apologized again, quickly moving to leave. Just as I raised my foot, I heard a voice I had never expected to ever say my name without a sneer or a grimace do just that. Unsure of my hearing, I kept walking tentatively, unwilling to seem as if I was hearing voices that weren't there.

"Clary," Alec called again, his voice friendly yet somehow sad. "Wait."

I felt my breath hitch and I stopped on my way to the door. I couldn't comprehend what was happening, and a million possibilities ran through my head in two seconds. I turned back to Alec, my head buried beneath my hood as I spoke.

"Yeah?" I asked, cursing myself as I heard my voice waver.

Alec smiled cheerfully, reading the uncertainty in my voice. "It's fine, don't worry. Just . . . follow me, okay?"

He loped out the door, his strides long and easy, but still covering enough distance to cause me to have to hurry to keep up.

"Slow down," I said after a minute, hating the feeling of lagging behind. _Damn you giant people,_ I thought. _Why do you have to be so huge?_

"Oh, Yeah, sure," he complied, instantly switching to slower steps. When we started across the parking lot, I began to wonder. "Hey, where are you going?" I asked.

"Just a park," he answered vaguely.

"I don't really know you," I said, stopping abruptly. We were in the middle of the parking lot, and I found myself glad that none of the cars were trying to get past us at the moment. "I am not going to follow you to who-knows-where."

Alec heaved a sigh. "Fine. Where do you want to talk, then?"

I thought for a second. "How long is this gonna take?"

"Depends," he admitted, shrugging. "It could take a while."

"Hmm. . . . I guess we could walk to the park after all, then," I gave in. He smirked good-naturedly before setting off again, this time remembering the disadvantages to being a certain short person.

-x-x-x-x-

We came to a huge tree, towering above all the others. All the trees were quite young, comparatively, but despite their age they all had thick branches sticking out at just the right height for me to climb up. Before I could even make a move toward the largest tree, Alec had jumped up, grabbed a branch, and swung around it in one fluid motion to land, perched atop the smooth bark.

"How'd you do that?" I asked, trying to keep the astonishment out of my voice.

He laughed, patting the part of the branch beside him. "Come on up," he said. "I don't bite."

"I'm warning you right now that I have my phone ready and waiting," I said in mock seriousness, unsure myself if I should trust him. "No funny business."

I clutched a lower branch, pulling myself onto a fork in the trunk to crawl across the branch to him. Watching in amusement as I took the normal way up and leaned against the main trunk, he said, "So, I guess I should start talking, huh?"

I nodded, letting one of my legs hang from the branch as I waited for him to speak.

Letting a breath loudly out his nose, he peered over at me. "It's about Jace," he began. "I know he's been . . . not himself lately, and I wish I could tell you why, but. . . . I can't, so I'm going to try and explain as much as I'm allowed to."

He shifted himself on the branch, leaning his shoulder on another thick branch behind him and staring briefly up into the leaves. "Jace has . . . lost a lot in the past month, and . . . he's not able to tell you about it - just like me. He's really alone in this world and - and he has a lot to adjust to, and he really isn't sure what to do. Of course, he pretends he knows and just . . . blunders along, as usual. Getting hurt and showing off all the time," Alec muttered, speaking the last few words under his breath, almost to himself.

"Wait, what?" I asked. "What do you mean, 'He's really alone in the world'? He's had me just about his _entire life,_ Alec!"

He looked over at me, pity written across his face as he frowned.

"Did he ever think about _that_, Alec?" I asked, fuming and hoping the tears would stay hidden. "I've always been here, Alec! I've always been right here, waiting for him to go back to being Jace. The Jace I know, not this new . . . conceited jerk that just appeared overnight."

"Hey," Alec said calmly, seeing me squeeze my eyes shut in an attempt to stop the tears from spilling out. "Hey, it's not your fault. Jace is just being an asshole right now, okay? It's got nothing to do with you, you hear me?"

After I was silent for a few minutes, he slid closer to me on the branch and said, "You need a hug?"

I shook my head vigorously and said, "Since when did you give a shit about me, Lightwood?" I wiped a hand across my eyes in a futile attempt at stopping the water streaming down my cheeks. "You always made my life miserable - why stop now?"

"I," Alec started to say, but looked away at anything but me. "I don't know. I never knew why I did anything to anyone - I just kind of did."

"That's your answer?" I sniffled.

"Yeah, well . . . Isabelle's like that," he said, as if that somehow explained everything. He still wouldn't look at me, and I pulled my hair off my skin where the tears plastered it down, trying to regulate my breathing again.

"Okay, well, I better go," I announced, jumping down from the branch in a hurry. "Thanks for trying to explain . . . all of whatever's going on. To be honest, I'm just as confused as before, but. . . . "

I stuffed my hands in my jacket pockets and took a last look at Alec, sitting by himself in the sea of leaves, his face a blank mask as he stared down at me. In a quick movement he was down on the ground beside me. "I guess I'll go, then," he said monotonously. "Sorry I couldn't make much sense."

"No problem," I said, already walking down the road again.

"And Clary?" he called, his blue eyes fixed on mine when I spun my head back. "I'm sorry I can't change the past."

I opened my mouth, but closed it again. "Uh, um. . . " I waved a hand awkwardly, then made my way down the busy street, wondering when anything would go back to making sense.

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**So this chapter was shorter than I meant it to be, but that's okay. It worked out fine, I think. **

**R&R**


	4. Chapter 4

**Sorry this took so long to get up, but I had family visiting from out of the country so I didn't exactly get much time on the computer. **

**Scrotie Mcboogerballs - whoever you are, your name made my day ;)**

**Thank you so much to all of you that reviewed. Awesomeness.  
**

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**Chapter Four**

Walking down the side of the road, my shoes slapping quietly against the concrete of the sidewalk, I thought about what Alec had said. What could be upsetting Jace so much? Jace hardly ever was effected by anything to this degree, so it must have been something bad - that much I knew. What in the world could make him change so much?

Something was fucking Jace up, and I was going to find out what.

There was a rustling in the alley beside me as I passed, but when I swiveled my head to look, there was nothing at all - just a bunch of dumpsters and trash bags crowding the otherwise empty alley. I dismissed it as the wind and kept walking down the road, glad the streets were busy enough that nothing too sketchy could happen.

The rustling came again in the next alley I passed, but this time I saw something. It was only a glimpse, and only for a fraction of a second - but I saw a flash of deep red as it vanished around the corner at the far end of the alley.

The same thing happened at the next alley. Then the next.

And the next. Each time there was the rustling of a bag, or the rattle of a trash can as something hit it - then the same flash of red.

Then it was gone.

It went on and on until I reached my apartment, squeezing through the weird staircase leading to the loft above the strange old lady and her supposed fortune-telling shop. The stairs creaked loudly as I climbed them, so I almost missed the grating noise of something opening our old, stubborn windows.

I froze, my hand already clasping around the bottle of pepper-spray my mother had begun forcing me to carry. I knew she was usually home by now, but we never attempted to open the windows unless it was blisteringly hot, and it was just beginning to sprinkle when I had shut the door behind me.

Who was in my house?

I heard a grunting noise as whoever it was pulled themselves through the window, then a light thud as their feet landed on the hardwood floor. Cautiously, I craned my neck to try and tried to see who it was while still hiding around the corner.

Right in front of the window stood a figure clothed all in black, leather across its chest and back, as well as covering its legs. It looked like a grown woman, the limbs lean and muscular beneath the clothing. The figure was in the shadows, blocking out the face and hiding the colour of the hair.

Then I saw what she had in her hands.

One hand wrapped around a glowing silver blade completely covered in black liquid, dripping the foul-smelling substance on the floor in pools. In the other hand was a strange silvery rod, one end tipped in a sharp point as she pulled her shirt and the leather covering down to show her bare shoulder, expertly carving a shape into her skin before putting the silvery tool away in her belt.

"Oh, no," she muttered when she looked down at the pool of black fluid on the floor. "Now I'm going to have to clean up again before Clary gets home."

How did she know my name?

She sprinted across the room to the bathroom, emerging with a bottle of cleaner and a roll of paper towels. She moved so quickly that I could barely spot her, but I managed to see her once when she was caught in the dim light streaming through the window. She had green eyes and deep red hair held up in a tight, high ponytail, and her clothes were smeared with the same black liquid, oozing down her arms and sticking to her skin.

"Mom?" I asked, stepping out from around the corner. She stopped scrubbing the floor and immediately whipped her head around to look at me with the same expression as a child caught doing something they shouldn't. "What are you doing?"

She ran a finger across her face, wiping a non-existent hair behind her ear. "I'm just finishing some cleaning. I spilled some paint on the floor earlier." She turned back to scrubbing the floor.

"Then why are you covered in it?" I asked, not bothering to keep the suspicion out of my voice.

"It was in a can on the shelf, and it fell on me," she answered smoothly, not looking me in the eyes.

"Mom," I said forcefully, raising an eyebrow at her when she faced me again to show I wasn't buying a word. "Then why does it smell like a garbage dump?"

She sighed. "Clary. . . . No more questions."

I gritted my teeth and slipped my bag off my shoulder, flinging it into the corner by my bedroom door. "I know you're lying."

"Now Clary, you know I wouldn't-" she started to say before I cut her off.

"I saw you come in the window!" I yelled, angry that she thought I was so gullible. She stared at me with a guilty look, hurriedly wiping up the rest of the goo and rushing out of the room.

"Hey!" I yelled after her, running to catch up as she threw the paper towel in the garbage and went in her room, closing the door behind her. I heard the click of a lock and knew it was over.

But I kept trying, anyways. Knocking on the door impatiently, I said, "I know there's something going on!" A thought popped into my head, suddenly making perfect sense. "I saw you running through town!"

The door flew open to reveal my mother's shocked face. "WHAT?" She had obviously just begun changing, and the top layer of the black leather was already laying on the floor behind her.

"I saw you running through town. You were in the alleys," I answered matter-of-factly.

"But - but that's impossible!" she exclaimed, staring at me in panic. "How could you see me? I had an invisibility rune."

I raised my eyebrows at her and wondered if she was on some medication I wasn't aware of. "Mom?" I asked seriously. "Did you forget to take any meds?"

"Fine - you want to know the truth?" she grumbled angrily, furiously ripping her boots off and throwing them on the floor next to the rest of her discarded leather. "Well here it is, Clary! I'm a Shadowhunter!"

"A what?" I asked, confused.

"A Shadowhunter, Clarissa. I kill demons," she said frustratedly. "Warlocks, demons, vampires - all that crap people fantasize about today. Whatever creature it is you dream about kissing, I probably kill it."

I noticed I had never lowered my eyebrows, and I kept them raised as I asked again, "Seriously, Mom - have you forgotten to take any medication lately?"

She let out an irritated scream before saying, extremely calmly, "No, Clarissa. I am perfectly healthy, but you on the other hand. . . . "

"Me? I'm not healthy?" I asked incredulously. "I'm not the one saying I battle demons, Mom."

"They're-" my mom started to say, but stopped at the sound of cracking glass. Her face blanched and in the blink of an eye, she was already putting the leather armor back on. "Turn your head around _very slowly_ and tell me what you see."

I did as she said, holding back my gasp as I saw the strange creature move lithely around the house. "Is that a demon?" I mouthed quietly to my mom. She crept up beside me without so much as a breath, took one look at the creature, and nodded.

"On three, sprint to your room, grab that bag of clothes I know you packed to stay at Maia's tonight," she whispered in my ear, barely audible, even that close. "Run for your life, and don't stop, don't think about me - whatever you do."

I opened my mouth to object, but she pressed a finger to her lips and shook her head. Staring down at me, she put up a finger.

One. She gave me a kiss on the forehead and smiled sadly.

Two. I watched as she followed the creature with her eyes while it made its way towards us.

Three. I bolted out the door and immediately heard the monster heading after me. A whizzing sound went past my ear, and I saw a glowing blade fly towards the creature in a blur. I heard a squelching sound as it hit its target, and only looked back when I had made it to my doorway.

My mother had tackled the demon and was slashing it repeatedly with her knives, sending the thing screeching in pain. I only paused for a moment to see what was happening, then snatched my bag off the floor. Something clattered to the wood just as the bag lifted off the floor, and I turned fearfully to my broken window. I already knew what I would see.

Shattered glass and bits of broken wall lay on my floor, the hole that had once been a window now resembling something hit by a wrecking ball as another creature, identical to the one in the other room, slithered and creeped towards me, more already on their way through the gaping hole. Black, heartless eyes locked on my every move and my heart began to palpitate dangerously fast as I looked out of the corners of my eyes for something to use as a weapon. Anything.

Skimming over my many unhelpful possessions in a matter of seconds, I paused on a floor lamp with a thick metal base. I dove for it ungracefully, attempting to grab it and pull the lampshade off, while simultaneously turning back to jab the nearest creature in one fluid motion.

Needless to say, I failed miserably.

Nearly tripping on my own shoes, I barely managed to get the lampshade off before the demons were jumping and swiping at me, gnashing their sharp teeth as a slightly greenish slime drooled from their mouths. Struggling to turn around as quickly as possible before any off their blows reached me, I accidentally stabbed one of them in the eye, sending more of the same black liquid that had covered my mom streaming from the socket - which was fine by me. I knew I couldn't let myself be surrounded on all sides and that I would be cut off if I was backed into a corner, so I did the first thing that popped into my head.

I started stabbing all the others in the eyes. It had seemed to have an effect on the last one that had happened to - even though it was unintentional - so as soon as a demon was within poking reach it ended up with an oozing, literally black eye. The adrenaline kicked in and I felt myself begin to move automatically, as if I had somehow done this before, even though I knew there was no way could have. I began kicking demons in the face while I thwacked the end of the lamp against one's skull until the metal that had held a light bulb was broken off.

_Aim for the heart_, I thought instinctively.

The problem was figuring out where the heart was, because my guess was not all hearts were in the same place. I started with where I thought it should be - in the chest. I gave a leap until I was high enough into the air to get a view of one's back. Plunging the now sharp edge through the back of the closest demon with enough force to push it out the front of the chest, I prayed that it had hit something important enough to kill. The thing quivered when I landed on it, giving a strange, spastic shake that was hard enough to throw me across the room.

My head hit the wall and I saw spots for a moment, the rest of the demons surging toward me with a new found motivation. It appeared I had killed one, and now it lay in a growing pool of the disgusting black stuff that I was pretty sure was odour filled my nostrils and I tried to ignore it - if that was possible.

I let myself focus in on their movements, my muscles taking control as I flew into a rage of kicks and jabs, skewering demon after demon as I got a clear view of their backs. Teeth gnashed in my face, splattering me with drool and blood. Everything around me became a blur as I fought to stay at least a step ahead, until at last it was quiet and I realized why.

I stood in a deep layer of black demon blood and drool, their lifeless carcasses strewn about in the pitiful remains that had once been my room. Around me lay bits and pieces of my walls and furniture, what little had survived intact now saturated in at least one kind of goo. Running a hand over my face, I wiped as much of the grime off as I could, knowing my clothes were a lost cause; my jeans were torn beyond repair and my shirt was visible through the tears in my sweatshirt, demon gore hanging to every inch of the fabric.

It took a few seconds for me to believe my eyes. I had done it. By some miracle, I had survived. I didn't know anything about demons, but I hoped that there were no more coming to sneak in through our windows.

_But what if there were?_ I thought._ What if I didn't survive next time? What if?_

Snatching the first pen I could find underneath all the rubble, I scribbled a letter on the cleanest paper I could find, happy my notebooks had been mostly shielded from the mess by drawers and in my bags. Even so, the paper was decorated with pungent drops of black blood and drips of the weird, greenish drool as I signed at the bottom and folded it in my hand.

"Mom?" I asked quietly, jogging cautiously around the house when there was no answer. It seemed empty. "Mom?"

my pulse quickened with every demon corpse I passed by, and I found myself worrying just how many there had been. Had there been too many?

_What if. . . . ?_ I couldn't bring myself to think it.

I felt myself grow nervous again, finally passing the bathroom to hear heavy, laboured breathing from the other side of the door. Knocking my knuckles lightly against the wood, I asked again, "Mom?"

"Clary?" I heard my mother ask, gasping for air. I swung the door open, taking a moment to register what I saw. "Clary? Are you all right?"

I couldn't speak, couldn't respond - couldn't make a single sound. My mom lay sprawled before me, her back propped against the porcelain bath tub as she rested her head on the side of the toilet, her limbs crumpled around her, suddenly frail and delicate as they lay in puddles of liquid. Both red and black blood swirled around her on the floor, dripping down the sides of the tub, her face, covering her hair, her clothes - it was all I could do not to scream.

Finally I spoke, though it came out as a timid stutter. "A-are you ok-okay?" I asked, gripping the doorknob tighter so my knuckles turned white.

"Of course," she gasped, promptly leaning over the toilet bowl to vomit. I winced, feeling my own injuries no longer mattered in the slightest.

"Here," I said, wetting a small cloth and reaching to start trying to wipe the slime off her face. "Let me help you, okay?"

I patted the cloth against her skin timidly, fearing I would accidentally hit an injury that was just hidden beneath all the gore. I hadn't even made it through a whole layer of grime before I had to rinse the cloth out again, the stuff was so caked on.

"I was thinking about if this happened again," I started. "I'd want someone to know what had happened to me, or at least part of it - just the basics. Maybe not tell them the whole truth, but just enough to give them a little idea, you know?"

"Clary-" she paused to puke unceremoniously once again, "-Clary, you can't do that. Humans can't know about us, about demons; it's forbidden."

"But what if," I began, frustrated. I wanted at least someone to know what had happened to me if I was killed. "What if I knew they wouldn't tell? What if I trusted them?"

She shook her head, then grimaced at the pain it caused. "No. It has to be another Shadowhunter if you want to talk to them about this. No Mundanes, Clary," she answered bluntly.

"Mundanes?" I asked.

"Humans."

"But how would I know if they were a Shadowhunter?" I asked, getting more irritated by the second.

"We have a certain aura around us, I guess you could say. We recognize one another for what we are," she answered vaguely. It didn't really clear anything up. She seemed to understand this from my bank stare and added, "You'll get what I mean after a while - we have this . . . feeling around us."

"That doesn't really help me right now, Mom," I said. "I want to give this to someone, just in case I disappear or I'm suddenly murdered, and I want them to know the truth. But you're saying I can't do that."

"Absolutely not," she clarified, her skin deathly pale. "Who is this 'someone' anyway?"

I gulped, wringing out the cloth for the hundredth time. "Jace," I all but whispered as I wiped the last of the slime away from around her mouth. She just nodded minutely and said, "Give me the letter."

I stared at her open hand resting limply on the floor uncomprehendingly. She forced a smile and said, "I'll make sure he gets it if I think it's alright."

I nodded silently and took the folded letter from the counter, pressing it into her tired hand. She curled her fingers around it and leaned over to puke again, and I hurried to flush the bile down the drain before standing up awkwardly. "I'll be back in a second - I just need a drink," I said, already walking out the door.

I should have known it wouldn't be that simple.

The moment I stepped foot into the main room - demons still lying dead at my feet, the floor sticky with blood - I felt strong, agile hands wrap themselves around me from behind, moving with such skill and speed that I could barely tell what was happening to me. A rag was thrust violently into my mouth, blocking my screams as a thick rope was tied around my wrists, then wrapped all the way around my abdomen, successfully binding my arms tightly to my sides.

"You have such pretty eyes," a young male voice chuckled in my ear. "Let's cover them up before you can use them."

The last thing I saw was a dark, thick woolen hat before it was shoved down over my eyes, covering my entire face as I felt myself being tossed over someone's shoulder and carried away.

"Clary?" I heard my mother call faintly, the hat muffling the sound.

"Don't try and say anything, and she won't even know I was here," the guy whispered, just loud enough that I could hear.

I kept quiet, knowing there was nothing I could do to save myself.

-x-x-x-x-

Jace made his way casually to the door, the knock familiar even after its absence over the last month or so. He wasn't surprised to see Jocelyn herself standing on the doormat when he opened the door, but instead the way she stood. Jocelyn Fray had always carried herself with a certain air, almost regal in its confidence and poise - but at the same time with a feeling of readiness that made Jace think that she might try to attack him at any moment. This fact on its own wasn't what had a habit of unnerving Jace; it was the fact that he occasionally thought she might actually manage to do it.

So it was a shock for him to open the door and see the same Jocelyn Fray as ever standing in front of him, her shoulders slumped in defeat and her tall, lean form appearing fragile for the first time in Jace's life. Her usually perfectly smooth hair was put sloppily in a bun, strands falling around her face in a disarray of deep red hair as she stared grimly at Jace, her hands fiddling with a letter in her hands.

"Clary wanted you to have this," she finally said, her once beautiful, self-confident voice now small and impossibly quiet.

"Thanks," Jace said, carefully taking the crumpled, soiled piece of paper from her pale, trembling hand. She never acted like this. "Are you alright, Jocelyn?"

The woman shook her head, more hair falling from her bun. "Not even close, but I guess you'll find out soon, either way," she said, sending more questions running through Jace's head. Taking a shaky breath, Jocelyn tucked her hair behind an ear and pulled him into one of her rare hugs. He was so shocked by the sudden embrace that he almost couldn't move his arms to hug her back.

"Thanks for asking, Jace," she said when she let go, forcing a weak smile. "Just read the letter."

He nodded, feeling his fingers drum nervously against the paper as he held it.

Jocelyn made it half-way down the porch steps before she spun around. "And Jace?" she said just before he closed the door. "I'm sorry."

Then she walked away, leaving him wondering what could possibly be written on the paper slowly growing heavier in his hands.

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**You like? I hope the long chapter was worth the wait - there were so many parts that I totally wanted to end it at with a really bad cliff-hanger! ;) But I was nice and let you all off with a pretty much non-existent cliffy. . . . .**

**R&R**


	5. Chapter 5

**I'd like to explain a few things before we start: **

**Clary didn't totally freak out when she found out Jocelyn was a Shadowhunter because she didn't believe her. Clary thought she was making it up and then when she finally saw the demons and started believing Jocelyn, she didn't have any TIME to freak out about it because she was too busy with trying to escape.**

**Also, I realize the scene where Jocelyn is explaining to Clary might be little rushed, but I think it works with the whole mind-set the characters are in (Clary's confused - Jocelyn's in a hurry and is kind of freaking out about Clary seeing her). You may disagree, that's completely fine. ;)**

**I hope you guys understand a little better now.  
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**Chapter Five  
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Jace stared down at the bedraggled paper for what felt like hours - he was too nervous about what it might say to open it quite yet. There were so many things Clary could say to him after the past month, and he knew he deserved the worst of the possibilities. He knew he had abandoned her without warning, but there had been a reason - one she would never be allowed to know.

He couldn't pry his fingers from the paper, no matter how many times he tried. There was something nagging him in the back of his mind, urging him to read it, but he couldn't bring himself to listen. He kept thinking of how much easier it would be if he could just tell Clary the truth. No more lies, no more alter egos.

No more pain.

He swallowed loudly, once again feeling the throbbing pain of guilt. He had seen the looks on Clary's face when their eyes met. And then in the hallway. . . . .

_She must hate me by now_, he thought miserably, his eyes burning holes in the paper._ Any person would._

The memory of her small body crashing against the metal lockers flashed in his mind, replaying itself over and over again, each time making Jace loath himself even more.

_Why did I hurt her?_ he thought sadly, biting his lip as his eyes began to sting. _Why do I have to keep lying? _

But he knew why. That was the cause of the agonizing pain he felt whenever he let his emotions catch him off guard. He knew what the pain was, too.

It was his heart tearing itself apart.

Jace moaned, his eyes feeling as if they were on fire as he stared at the paper. He couldn't stand it any more - he let his fingers do what they had been straining to do ever since the letter had been touching his skin.

Unfolding the crumpled, stained piece of paper carefully so he didn't rip it, Jace held his breath. Waiting for his eyes to focus on the hurried, messy writing scrawled across the paper. Looking down at the familiar writing, his mind snapped back to a few days ago. She had left him a letter, then, too.

He remembered opening his locker, the small slip of paper nearly invisible among all the papers and textbooks shoved into the top shelf - but he had found it. His eyes had seemed to zoom in on it automatically the moment the metal door was open, and no sooner had he picked it up before the usual pain stabbed him in the chest.

It was from Clary.

He knew she would be mad, but what she wrote was worse than he thought.

_What happened to your heart, Jace?_

It was a single line, but it might as well have been a semi-truck running him over. If only she knew what he had done - _was_ doing.

What he had sacrificed.

He had given up almost everything he knew in his life for her, even pushing her away for her own good. He knew he would only get her hurt, and his heart wasn't strong enough to imagine life without Clary. It just wasn't possible - not now, not ever. She was a part of him, and even though he could never confide in her or comfort her ever again for fear of putting her in danger, at least she was still alive.

Knowing that was barely enough to stand the pleading looks across the classrooms and at his retreating back. She could never know that through every moment, all he wished he could do was run to her and pick her up in his arms. It took everything he had not to pull her small frame against him and keep her safe against his chest, if only for a heartbeat.

He took a deep, shaky breath and finally managed to focus on the writing on the page, his heart already pounding deafeningly in his ears.

_Jace,_

_I know you've been distant, and maybe you don't care what happens to me anymore. But I want you to know the truth if I'm gone. I still trust you more than anyone, even if you no longer trust me.__ Anything could happen to me, and you should know at least part of the truth. _

_There are things in this world I would never have believed, but I've seen it with my own eyes, Jace. I'm not crazy, no matter what anyone might think. I feel like I shouldn't tell you much more - it might be dangerous. I couldn't do that to you. One thing I'll say is that you shouldn't come looking for me if I disappear, or dig for too many details if I die. Who knows what you will find, or what you might get yourself into. Jocelyn might help you a little - but I doubt it. _

_Believe in nightmares._

_Love,  
Clary _

Only when he had looked away from the paper did Jace realize how badly his hands were shaking - it was a miracle they hadn't ripped the paper in half. It was almost as if his hands had a mind of their own, conveying the shock and fear he now felt.

Was it too much to hope? Was it possible?

_No,_ he thought quickly, dismissing the thought. _Not Clary. _

But she was in danger, even after everything he had done. It had all been for nothing, he realized, groaning in self-pity. He grabbed a pillow from beside him where he sat on the edge of his bed, hugging it tightly to himself and resting his forehead on his knees.

Rage poured over him unexpectedly, filling his veins with hate. Suddenly he let out the loudest yell he could, not caring if the pillow over his mouth muffled the sound. Who was left to care?

Not his parents, that was for sure. They were gone with no possibility of ever coming back.

And now Clary was gone, too - he could tell that much the moment Jocelyn had handed him the letter, the scent of demon blood and saliva still stuck in its many stains.

No one was left, and his grandmother did little more than watch as his life collapsed beneath him. Sure, he had Alec and Isabelle, but they hardly knew him. They had never even glimpsed any of his real personality below the facade he had put on for Clary. They did little to help, and they were nothing close to friends - merely another part of his disguise.

He threw down his pillow and leaped up to his feet, already forming a plan in his head. It was stupid and reckless, but then again, all of his plans the same, he knew what he needed to do.

-x-x-x-x-

I gulped down water as fast as I could, my mouth dry from the gag. The man had finally decided to take the rag out of my mouth, but refused to take the hat from over my eyes or unbind my arms. Instead, he had left me sitting on the floor with my back against a wall and was pouring water into my mouth.

He kept pouring the water, even after my mouth was so full I could no longer swallow, sending the cool liquid streaming down my chin and along my neck, wetting the collar of my shirt. I spluttered, pulling my head away from where he was pouring, and this time he stopped.

I heard his feet slide over the concrete as he crouched in front of me, his breath cold against my skin as he whispered something in rapid Spanish under his breath. "Hmm," he said, and I heard him sniffing me, smelling the bare skin by my neck. I winced as his hand was suddenly around my wrist, pulling it up to him.

There was a jolting pain as something was quickly slashed through the side of my wrist, and I knew by the feeling that it was barely deep enough to draw more than a pinprick of blood. I heard what sounded like licking before he spoke again.

"Let's see how long you last,_ Morgenstern_," he sneered, his dark laugh sending chills through my spine as it echoed around me.

The strangest thing was, his echo didn't sound like his voice.

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**I was surprised to find a review asking me to update more often. . . This is the first time I've heard of updating once (or twice) a week being "too slow". **

**This is as fast as it gets for me. Sorry. And I'm sorry this chapter is so short, I had MAJOR writer's block. Grr. . . .  
**

**R&R**


	6. Chapter 6

**Sorry this took so long to get posted. . . I had Finals Week. Eek! So I was under a lot of stress and doing more cramming than writing, which I think is understandable. :D**

**So so sorry this chapter is REALLY short, but it's mostly filler anyways, so. . . . My bad. Please forgive me.  
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**Also, just fyi - Clary's last name is Fray in this, not Morgenstern. Hehe.  
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**Chapter Six  
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The man continued to laugh, the echoes growing louder with each passing second. It was only when the man spoke again that I realized something I should have known sooner.

We weren't alone.

All around me I heard condescending laughter, the sound nearly blocking out the man's words.

"We have waited a long, long time for this day, Morgenstern. Never have we been fully accepted, even in all the Infernal Worlds. Always we have been singled out, discriminated against," he said, forcefully, immediately silencing the crowd. "All because of our need for blood!"

Sneering and boos erupted around me, and I tried to stop myself from shivering at the sound.

"For centuries we have lived alongside the rest, but for centuries we have been looked down upon! What makes us worse than any other? What sets us apart from the rest?" He spoke to the crowd, now, his voice ringing with a power that made my hair stand on end. "We will always be vampires, and we cannot be backed down!"

The crowd repeated his words, voices rumbling past me.

"And _you_ are the reason," he said to me, his voice a normal volume once again.

"What?" I asked, barely whispering.

""You are the key, Clarissa. You will lead us to rule," he explained. "And bring Valentine to his knees."

There were cheers from the masses, and I began to notice just how many there must could be hundreds, but before I could find out I was lifted roughly to my feet and dragged forwards.

"Your blood is the power, and you birth was more than your beginning." The hat was whipped off my eyes, dim shadowy light filling my eyes as I blinked. There were rows and rows of benches and pews lining the walls, raising up to nearly the roof of the gigantic, high-ceilinged room. Each and every possible seat was taken by a pale, beautiful figure, and fangs shone brightly in the darkness.

"It was the beginning of our hope."

-x-x-x-x-

Jace walked towards the Institute, knowing that he could not be noticed. He would have to sneak in, and by no means could he be caught. Late the night before he had made sure to leave a window unlocked in one of the many spare rooms, instinct telling him that no one could know he was inside the old church.

The window was a few stories o the ground, about thirty feet up. There was no problem for Jace, though, as the outer wall was full of jutting stones and small crevices in the rock walls just big enough for him to get hold of. Scaling the side of the church, he glided easily over the stone, memories of Clary filling his head.

Five minuted later he reached the window, pressing his palms against the glass and pushing it until it slid to the side. Leaping gracefully inside, he bent his knees and let himself sink into a crouch as he landed, absorbing the shock so effectively that even he could hear nothing when his feet hit the floor. All the lights were off, blackness surrounding him as he padded down the halls and slid silently down a banister, finding his way to the room hidden at the back of the basement, its door unmarked and locked.

Jace grinned and slipped a pick from his back pocket, jiggling it in the lock briefly before the door swung open.

_Jace has entered the building,_ he thought sarcastically to himself, disappearing into the dark room and shutting the door behind him.

-x-x-x-x-

The man stayed out of my line of vision, always behind me or just beyond the corners of my eyes. The closest I ever got was a swish of black as he led me toward a smaller room, the plaster falling of the ancient walls.

"You will stay here for the time being," he said, and opened the pale blue door in front of me. I expected it to creak, given the amount of rust on the hinges, but it didn't and instead swung open easily to reveal a tiny room. It was even smaller than I had first thought, the wallpaper long gone and plaster falling away to show the rotting wood beneath it. There was a single mattress laying on the concrete floor - no sheets, no pillow.

I was so tired I didn't even care. I sunk into the mattress the moment the door was shut behind me, almost missing the click of a key in the lock.

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**I hope you guys all have great summer! Haha. We're finally_ free!_**

**R&R**


	7. Chapter 7

**Some of you were wondering if I would continue updating this summer. The answer is a big fat YES. Even though I am moving in under a week and I won't have a computer after that, meaning I'll have to work from the public library's Snail Boxes (haha - I know. Not funny). I don't think I could stand not updating for an entire summer. Oh. My. God. That would be horrible. :S**

**Thanks for reading (and hopefully reviewing?)  
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**Chapter Seven  
**

Jace pawed through the darkness, making his way effortlessly in the shadows. He moved blindly, yet everything was just as clear as if it was seen. He knew exactly where each thing was, and found his gloved hands wrapping around familiar weapons. There was a bow and two sheaths of arrows along with a pair of seraph blades already stuffed under his arms.

The rack of gear lay just ahead of him, clean but worn black fabric hung against the back wall in perfect condition, the Shadowhunter uniforms pressed together in higher numbers than Jace thought they would ever need at this particular Institute. Ever since he had first heard of the Shadowhunters and come to the supposedly run-down old church to find that it harboured a huge building strictly for the Nephilim, he had only ever seen the Lightwoods and a frail old man named Hodge.

Hodge. He had always confused Jace, as if there was something left untold about him, and they would have to fight to get it out of him. It was a horrible feeling gnawing in his gut, but he had ignored it. Until now. Now it ground away at his insides, urging him to find out. Prodding. Poking.

As far as any of them knew, the strange old man living in the library didn't even have a last name. All he did was wither away in the crowded room on the top floor, drooling over his books until he became nearly as dusty as the ancient volumes themselves. His skin was as leathery and yellowed as the crackling paper, his eyes ink-stains on a forgotten manuscript. There were no family or friends, and nobody who knew a scrap of information about the stranger that came stumbling to the front door some years ago. He was a living mystery, and Jace doubted this one would ever be solved completely.

His fingers grazed over the thick leather of his uniform and he reached to pull it off the hook. The sickly sweet odour of fresh sweat hit his nose mere moments before Jace heard the rattle of a key in the lock he had just shut. Rolling across the floor smoothly, he slid to the far corner of the room.

The door opened, light seeping across the floor in a single yellow strip and Jace breathed silently, edging his way between the concrete wall and a tall shelf of combat boots. Footsteps tapped against the ground, light breathing obvious in the silence of the early hours as the light switched on, making Jace flinch involuntarily and catch himself in time to stop the shelf from wobbling.

There was a sigh and a scrape, then metal clinking softly against itself before a voice drowned out the quiet.

"Jeez, Alec. Take a shower, will you?" Isabelle complained back towards the door, her smile plain in her words.

Alec exhaled loudly. "I'm not even sure that deserves a reaction, Iz."

"_Well_, you should. You stink like a Ravener, and you know how bad those things can _smell_. Especially after they've eaten. . . " Isabelle pretended to choke, her boot heels clacking against the floor just as her brother's had moments ago.

"At least I practice," Alec huffed, the sound of a zipper punctuating his remark. "What are you doing down here, anyways?"

"I could ask you the same question," Isabelle countered, her voice deepening. "Since when do you train at two in the morning?"

"Since the disappearances, that's when. You know how bad it can get, and it's only a matter of time."

"A matter of time 'til what, Alec? Not everything's the end of the world, no matter how much you may wish it was," Isabelle said angrily. "I know how you_ love_ to be depressed and moody, but this time I just do not need the drama. By the Angel! Sometimes you're worse than me!"

Alec snorted, their footsteps tracing back out the door. The lock clicked shut again and Jace sprang out of the small crevice, wondering how he had fit in the tiny sliver of space.

Snatching his gear from the hanger, Jace waited impatiently until it had been long enough for Alec and Isabelle to make it up the flight of stairs before running up the very same stairs, his steps long and quick as he flew back towards the room with the open window. It was pouring out by this point, the dark gray clouds that had been hovering above the city's smog finally letting all hell break loose - metaphorically speaking, of course. Jace groaned as he slid open the window, just then realizing the irony of that phrase.

_I'll never be able to use that phrase without sarcasm again_, he thought, peering out the window pane. His eyes automatically landed on a single figure, barely visible through the torrent of rain practically dive-bombing the sidewalk. Dismissively, he climbed through the window, shutting it behind him and scaling once again over the protruding rock wall of the Institute.

Jace was too preoccupied to care about the lone teenage boy walking up the deserted Brooklyn street. He didn't think to consider why the strange boy was letting himself be pelted by the unnaturally strong rainstorm, let alone wonder if maybe - just maybe - he was being watched. Why would he wonder about this little fact, anyways - he couldn't be seen by normal Mundanes. In his haste, he forgot one of the most important things he had learned.

A demon did not always look like a demon.

-x-x-x-x-

I watched as the man tried to teach me the technique for what must have been the hundredth time. He was beginning to show his impatience, I was getting more frustrated by the minute, and neither of us could blame the other.

It was all the other guy's idea - the one that had originally kidnapped me. Whoever he was, I was glad that he had seemed to disappear for the time being. Even his voice had begun to sound slimy, but maybe that was just me - he had dragged me to an abandoned church basement, after all. That had to have affected my judgment of his character from the start, in his defense. Still, I wouldn't trust him for a second.

"Listen," the man said finally. "This obviously isn't working. Why don't we try something different?"

I nodded, knowing he was right. He had been attempting to teach me how to walk "properly" for the past hour, and it had become downright depressing. I was supposed to be making progress, but as I got more tired and worn out, so did our patience - and my walking wasn't making any improvement.

You see, he had been teaching - or _trying_ to teach - me how to walk across any kind of terrain without a single clue I was there, all with _perfect_ balance. Honestly, I thought it was a miracle we had lasted the hour we did.

"So. . . " I prodded, failing to hide the wariness in my voice. "What now?"

"Well, you're. . ." He cleared his throat, already leading me to the crumbling banister sloping down the side of the single ancient wooden staircase curling up from the floor. "You, Clarissa, are going to walk up that railing."

"_That?_" I spluttered, not even trying to conceal my astonishment. "But. . . That . . _Huh?_"

"Yes," he answered, grinning bemusedly. "That."

"But," I started, cutting off to stare at him incredulously. Gesturing wildly towards the wooden stairs I said, "But it's _rotting!_"

"Yes. So it is." The man grinned at me once again, a knowing, mischievous glint in his obsidian eyes.

I gulped audibly and took a deep breath, closing my eyes. "_How_ am I supposed to do that?" I asked calmly.

"You practice. You stay focused," he answered, springing atop the banister to sprint easily to the top. "It's simple, but you need patience."

I opened my eyes and stared up at him as he descended, wondering how the hell I was ever going to be able to do _that_. It didn't seem possible, yet I had just seen someone_ run_ it. I shook my head and looked down at the ground before stepping forward.

"Okay, I'll try." I lifted myself on top of the start of the railing, wobbling on the soft, splintering wood.

The man jumped off the railing, suddenly standing on the stairs beside me. Even though I was standing a good four feet above him, he was still almost a foot taller - I can't say that helped my self-esteem any. Resting his fingertips lightly on my elbow, he spoke.

"You have to overcome doubt." He walked to the wall, leaning against it with a foot pressed against the peeling grayish paint. "You have to turn your fear into power."

I let his word echo in my head, attempting to make sense out of his advice. With a sigh, I stepped forward, tentatively placing one foot after another. Each step I took, I tried to convince myself that I could not fall off - that I would make it to the end.

Adrenaline pumped through my veins as I got higher and higher, the ground growing farther below me as heat rushed to my body - and at that moment, I understood.

_Fear into power_, I thought, and took my last step.

-x-x-x-x-

The single figure walked through the heavy rain, barely noticing the water soaking his clothes. He pretended to ignore the other boy in black that came sprinting past, intent on his charade. He had watched as the boy climbed down the side of the large building in front of him, slowing his pace and waiting for him to pass by.

He had to seem ordinary, after all.

The figure strode through the rusting wrought iron gates and allowed himself a grin - though no one else could tell that was what it was. The glamour of the church was so easily melted away that at first he had suspected a trick - he had expected at least a slight challenge from something as official as an Institute.

His knock was answered after a long pause, the thick wooden door swinging open as he was met by two pairs of eyes watching him carefully from almost identical faces. Underneath his over-sized hood he felt his lips part slightly as his mouth relaxed, striking himself with a moment of confusion. He had never felt this before_ - _he shouldn't feel this. He had felt himself let his guard slip, if only for a second. That could never be allowed to happen, let alone around _them_.

"Hello?" the girl asked cautiously, her long inky hair falling in tendrils around her face. It was there - that feeling. He knew what he had to do, then. He had to improvise, and he had to be convincing without a doubt - that was the most crucial part.

"I . . . I . . ." He pretended to stutter, making his voice breathy as he bit down on the capsule he had kept ready in his mouth, releasing the liquid inside it. Instantly he swallowed, knowing the poison had entered his bloodstream the second it hit his throat - it was only a matter of time, now.

Before he could blink, a wave of dizziness crashed into him, the world spinning around him in a frenzy of blurry colours as he swayed. His vision disappeared, followed one by one by each of his senses until all he could do was feel the warm velvet of skin against him as he landed in a pair of arms.

_Simple_, he thought, then he vanished into unconsciousness.

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**Just fyi: Yes, Magnus will be in this story. Eventually. NO, this guy that just blacked out is not him. Sorry if you're disappointed, but I have no idea WHAT Magnus is gonna be doing in this fic. Yet. **

**R&R**


	8. Chapter 8

**Is it just me or does it seem like you're getting less interested in this thing? Either way, here's the next chapter - it may be the last for a while because I'm moving RIGHT NOW. Yes, I mean that I am typing this while in the middle of moving - I'm that devoted to you guys. Just a warning, so be patient, please. Ooh! And I have a lizard on my shoulder right now. Okay, now it's walking on my collarbone. . . . Sharp claws! It TICKLES!**

**Oh, and I tried to make this chapter a little bit longer than the majority of these have been so far, so hopefully that'll make you guys a bit more lenient with my slower updating rate. ;)  
**

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**Chapter Eight**

"You're improving, so I guess that's a plus," the man said to me as I jumped down from the banister, sending a cloud of dust spiraling up from the floor. "Though you still have a lot of work to do."

I crossed my arms and sat down on the rickety stairs. "I still don't see the point of all this. I thought you were my _kidnappers_."

He laughed. "I guess you could say that we are, but we're a different sort than you might be used to," he answered, his eyes glinting with mischief in a way that was growing quite familiar.

"What makes you think I'm used to kidnapping?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. "I'll let you know this is my first time, and I hope that it's my last. I wish this never happened."

"Well, of course you wish it never happened. I've never known of someone who actually _wanted_ to be captured by a complete stranger and dragged away to a place unknown to them," he said, not pausing for a single breath. He grinned, showing his pointy incisors. "That, my dear, would be ludicrous."

I gulped. "Why are you going through the trouble of trying to train me to do whatever?" I asked. "I know for a fact that it's not because you enjoy it."

"How right you are. A very reasonable question." He leaped to the top of the balcony, landing in front of a metal door. "One I am not going to answer."

Before I could blink the door had shut, the unmistakable click of a lock sounding behind him. A shiver ran down my back, and I realized what he had done. He had left me alone, and the lights overhead were starting to flicker.

_Crack!_

I looked up at the small bits of glass falling from the fixtures in the ceiling as the bulbs burnt out and broke one after the other, each _crack!_ sending me farther into the blackness. The shivers grew stronger as the shadows thickened, and I couldn't help feeling as if I was being watched. I whipped my head around, searching the balcony for any other pairs of eyes peering out at me as I thought they were. I couldn't see anything, not even my own hand when I waved it in front of me, let alone something hiding across the room.

"You should know better than to be alone in the dark," a man's voice called from somewhere far above me, the accent familiar even then when he sounded so far away. There was a flutter and a flap, then a rattling of chains from directly behind me. I jumped at the sound of his voice, suddenly close enough I could have reached out and touched him. "After all, you never know what's waiting in the shadows."

Grit and dirt scraped against the floor as I sprung up too quickly, skidding and rushing backwards until I felt the cool wall against my back. I swallowed nervously, feeling the cold sweat collect on my skin while II looked around blindly, searching for the person I knew was there, wishing that my eye were better in the dark. "Who are you?" I asked cautiously, my heart pounding in my chest.

"Oh Clarissa," he said, his grin showing through his voice. "You already know who I am."

"What are you talking about?" I asked, more confused.

In a single breath his hands were around my wrists, pulling me, leading me somewhere. I could only stumble after him up the stairs, unable to see where we were going or do anything but listen to the sound of footsteps against the creaky stairs. That was when I noticed something peculiar.

There was only one step of footsteps as we walked, though I was sure there was someone else there but me. I knew I was not imagining the hands tugging me gently upwards and around in the darkness. I listened again, sure I had misheard. There must have been two pairs of footsteps, there must have.

But there weren't, and the pieces finally began to come together. The pointy teeth, the need for my blood, the darkness - and now the silence. Vampires. I couldn't believe I hadn't seen it earlier, with all that had been happening, even if I did think it was impossible - I was beginning to learn nothing was. Another shiver ran down my spine as the thought sunk in. _I had been kidnapped by vampires._

The boy let go of one of my hands, and the creaking of old wood beneath my feet stopped, replaced by a soft click of a lock. I heard a doorknob turn and was instantly blasted by strong, warm winds as metal door swung open, moonlight spilling over the slate landing outside. I spun my head and looked around me, trying to find the face of the person who had been holding my wrists, only to come up short.

Frustrated, I searched my memory for anything I could think of. There must have been some clue, somewhere if he said I already knew him. I thought, biting my lip as I ran through everything he had said or done. I knew he wore chains, and he had an accent. What had he said? He muttered something in. . . Spanish! That was it!

I remembered a few days ago, when that boy had jumped on Jace's desk and spoken to him in Spanish. He never made a sound when he moved except for the chains hanging from his jeans, and his eyes had always seemed to hold something dangerous, always staring at everything with a look of mischief.

Raphael. Raphael had kidnapped me and taken me here. Raphael needed my blood, and Raphael had been ordering that other man to train me.

_Oh God,_ I thought._ I went to school with an undercover vampire. I knew he was a creep, but this is just ridiculous.  
_

I sighed defeatedly and walked out onto the concrete, hurrying to escape the confines of the decrepit building. The light was still dim, but the it seemed almost normal after the darkness of the room, illuminating everything before me. I gazed around, my eyes resting on the only other things on the patio. A collection of sleek motorcycles stood propped up near the wall beside me, their shiny paint gleaming in the moon.

What are they doing up here? I wondered, trying to find some way that they could have been brought up to what I quickly realized was the roof. All I found were small chimneys poking up from the slate and an abandoned, rusty water tower barely held up. There was no way that the bikes could have been taken up this far, but yet, there they were.

I walked over to them, taking in their beauty in the light, the metal seeming to pull me towards it. There was this strange feeling around them, something that grew in the pit of my stomach - a mix of nerves and excitement welling up until my hand was running down the smooth handlebars. I pulled my hand back, realizing what I was doing. Why had I done that? The leather seat looked so comfortable, I just wanted to sit down; my legs were so tired after all the training I had been put through, not to mention the horrible sleep patterns I had been having. . . .

I stood up the moment my backside touched the seat, snapping my eyes open as if just breaking from a daze. What had I been doing? Whipping my head around quickly, I waited to see if anyone else was there. Where had Raphael gone, anyway, after he disappeared?

But there was no one there, and I kept standing beside the strange, mysterious group of motorcycles, my gaze drifting slowly toward them every few seconds, only for me to snap back the other direction. It was like there was something drawing me to them, but I couldn't tell what it was. What could be in a motorcycle that would draw you to it? I shook my head; I must have been imagining it.

"What are you doing up here, _chica_?" Raphael asked, his cold breath suddenly tickling the back of my neck. I jumped, almost letting the small shriek leave my lips. He sat down, slouching casually on one of the bikes; a dark, midnight blue one.

"Why?" I asked, straightening up and clenching my fists. Even with him sitting down I had to struggle to make myself seem taller.

"Why what?" he asked, infuriatingly calm, a smirk on his mouth. "There are a lot of 'why's' I could answer."

"Why am I here? Why do you need me? Why are you doing all of this?" I inquired, rapidly shooitng questions at him before I could lose my nerve. "Why were there demons in my house?"

Raphael chuckled, uncurling himself from the bike to stand up, one fluid motion bringing him in front of me, his back to the moonlight, casting the front of his body in shadows. "That's an awful lot of questions, _mija_."

I clenched my jaw, grinding my teeth. "I think I at least deserve an answer, you leech. I _am_ the one that _you_ kidnapped, if you don't remember."

"Good point, but still. . . . Still. Why should I answer? You're stuck here anyways, aren't you?" He laughed again, lifting his face to the sky so the light could slide over his pale olive skin. I had never realized how empty his eyes were until then, when they seemed to swallow all the light like black holes in his face."I guess you could have . . . one answer." The tips of his fangs poked out from the bottom of his top lip as he spoke, stark white in the darkness.

I waited, my breaths gradually growing more stuttered, coming in quick, short bursts when I finally noticed it. I closed my eyes and started to breath slowly, forcing myself to take long, deep breaths. When I opened them again, Raphael was staring at me, those empty black holes boring into my skull.

"What?" I asked, self-conscious at once. He shook his head and shoved his hands in his jean pockets, his body curling in on itself again as he slouched.

"Because of the Accords." He turned with a quick jerk before I could open my mouth.

"What? What do you mean?" I asked stubbornly, annoyed at the whining tone in my voice.

Raphael turned his head just enough so I could see his eyes peering over his shoulder from beneath his dark curls, the shadows slanting over his face in streaks. "You got your answer," he said before turning back away and walking toward the edge of the roof. Without warning, an image of him falling off the side came into my head, the image so realistic that at first I wasn't sure it as real. It couldn't be - why would he throw himself off a roof? I shook my head, trying to stop annoying myself with stupid questions. Of course Raphael hadn't thrown himself off the roof; that would be suicidal, and why would a suicidal vampire kidnap someone?

Raphael was still standing on the edge of the roof when I looked over at him, automatically checking to see if he really was about to throw himself off. One of his feet lay partly over the edge as he looked down pensively, ran a hand through his hair, and flashed a smile at me over his shoulder. It was the first time he had smiled around me, and this one showed all of his teeth, the pointed incisors obvious even from where I was. "There's a lot of traffic today," he said sarcastically, then disappeared over the side.

I screamed, my hands reaching my mouth too late to cover up the sound. Already run to the edge, I had a sense of deja-vu. Hadn't I just imagined him falling over the side? If peeked cautiously over the side of the building, expecting to see a limp body spread across the cracked pavement below, but there was nothing. I held my breath - he must have gone _somewhere_. I scoured the inky blue-black of the night around me, but still came up empty. He had disappeared again, and this time I doubted he would simply pop up behind me.

-x-x-x-x-

Jace walked through the darkened streets, his eyes scouring the alleys for any sign of life - or non-dead-life. There was nothing. He blew a strand of hair from his eyes and sighed. He had been searching for Clary for nearly two days now, but any clues that there might be had seemed to evade him as he prowled the abandoned parts of Brooklyn. He figured those areas would be the most likely for her to be, given the amount of demons he had killed in their collapsing buildings.

A scream pierced the air, ringing in Jace's ears long after it had died out, but by then he was already sprinting towards it. The houses started to dwindle, instead slowly replaced by large, forgotten buildings left alone to rot. Peeking around the edge of the alleyway's entrance, his eyes caught a single glimpse of flame, high up on the roof of the Hotel Dumort. It was one glimpse, but enough to make his heart beat audibly in his ears.

Clary.

At the edge of the roof she stood, looking frantically around the ground for something, a look of panic on her face. She scowled as a laugh sounded; a grim cackle barely distinguishable from a sputtering cough. Frustrated, Clary sat down on the tip of the roof, her legs dangling over the sides as she looked up at the sky sulkily, a pout on her pink lips.

Jace smiled meekly to himself, warmth flooding over him as he watched her stare off into the distance. But he couldn't keep still, he was there for a reason, he reminded himself, shaking his head. He took off at a run, dust coming up in clouds around his feet as he zipped across the cracked pavement towards the front of the hotel. Quickly, he whipped his head around, trying desperately to find a way inside - and he found it. The small grate at ground level, the metal so old and rusted that he could pry it of with his bare hands, cinnamon streaks marring the lightly tanned skin. With a single motion, he swung inside, landing hard on the floor in a whirl dirt and clinking of weapons against each other as he ran up the single flight of stairs, hidden in the corner.

Around him were pieces of wood, remnants of the stairs that used to be there, now broken and covered in layers of mold. There was furniture, too - old works of ancient metal and torn cloth left in the corners, crawling with insects. Everywhere he went, he was surrounded by what must have been elaborate chandeliers and furnishings, now dented and thrown aside, all the life of the building seeping out of it. He had felt a slight chill creep into his body the moment he stepped in the building, and no matter where he went, he felt as if he was being watched.

Behind him he heard a sudden fluttering, following by the clinking of chains. Swinging around, Jace already felt the cold ice of the dead enveloping him in the shadows. He was pulled down from behind, sharp talons sinking into the thick leather of his jacket as the world disappeared from around him, until finally he could only see one thing.

From the darkness were two eyes, the iris so dark it blended in with the pupils, turning them into holes that seemed to swallow up everything around them, drawing him into their depths.

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**I was wondering how you all pronounce Jace. I pronounce it like JAY-s Ya know, like "Mace" with a "J" instead of a "M".**


	9. Chapter 9

**So here it is. Sorry it took so long but you all know my reasons. . . . :S Anyways, ENJOY!**

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**Chapter Nine  
**

I watched as they pulled Jace to the ground, his body quickly becoming limp, those muscles that were once so strong now holding no more resistance than a sack of rags. I knew I should do something - anything - to help. But what could I do? It was vampires against me. Vampires were strong and deadly and infectious - not to mention that little thing about them being _immortal. _I was only me, one small, admittedly weak human girl, so instead of living out my fantasy of playing a guardian angel, I stood and watched. It was all I could do.

It had taken mere moments for the three slim figures in black to knock Jace unconscious, needing only a single well placed blow to the back of the neck with no more visible effort than swatting an irritating fly. My fists clenched and my jaw began to ache from the nervous grinding of my teeth. I felt blood flush my cheeks as anger rose up - I was just a burden, the stupid damsel in distress that I always despised in fairy tales.

_Useless,_ I thought, chiding myself. They did always say that you were your own worst critic.

Soon hey disappeared from sight, vanishing easily into the shadows of the crumbling building. I tried to squint my eyes, looking to see if I could catch a glimpse of where they went. I had always wished I had better vision, like one of those people with better than 20/20 - now would be a great time to develop night vision. No matter how hard I tried I couldn't see anything beyond the murky darkness, losing hope as I realized all the possibilities. What had they wanted Jace for? There could be a million reasons, and I doubted there was anything I could do about it.

Snapping myself out of my thoughts, I spun on my toes, sprinting back into the blindness that came with the large, rotting foyer. The metal door was still propped open with a small piece of broken concrete, the black beyond gaping at me like a hungry mouth.

_Suck it up_, I thought, then charged into the shadows.

At first it felt just like any other building I had been in, but once I stepped down onto the first stair the chills crept up my spine. There was something unnatural, and it surprised me that I hadn't felt it before - I guessed my panic had something to do with it. Staying as silent as I could, I tip-toed down the stairs, the rotting wood springy beneath my feet. There was a scuttling sound around my feet and I looked down, only I should have remembered I still could barely see the tip of my own nose. I dismissed it as a rat and continued on, my bravado quickly waning the farther I descended.

A door creaked and I stopped walking, my ears barely picking up the trace of dragging along the dirty floor. I knew it was Jace, because who else would make any noise among all the other undead? At least I hoped it was Jace, knowing that he was the only one I could trust in this forsaken crowd. Someone muttered to another, just softly enough that I couldn't pick up individual words even in the otherwise complete silence. There was more scraping long the floor and I held my breath, finally making my way down the stairs again when I heard a door slam shut farther into the building, clinging to the banister for a sense of balance.

"What are you doing inside again?" Raphael asked, suddenly behind me. "I thought I told you the dangers of the dark."

He leaned forward, close enough that I could feel the cold seeping from his skin and see the slight outline of his lengthening fangs - hardly more than slightly lighter patched of gray in the background of nothingness. I gulped, hoping it wasn't audible. "I was just getting a little cold, I guess."

I could almost feel him grinning, a strange change in the air, as if it was crackling with energy. "Fair is fair, _chica_."

-x-x-x-x-

Isabelle stared down at the stranger laying on the small cot warily. "It doesn't feel right, Alec," she said for the thousandth time since they had brought the unconscious figure into the infirmary.

"I know, Iz. You said that already - only about a_ hundred times_," Alec said from behind her were he was reclined on an empty cot, his leg swinging over one of the edges. "Hodge _did_ heal him, so I guess he must be alright."

Isabelle scowled at him over her shoulder. "Do you always trust everything other people do?"

"No, only the one's I know." He grinned teasingly. "You excluded, of course."

"Nice to know you trust me," she mumbled, turning back to watch the rise and fall of the boy's chest. He was hardly older than either of them, now that she could see his face. His pale skin almost glowed in the fluorescent lights of the room, and a shudder ran through her as she remembered the emptiness in his black eyes - she had barely suppressed a shiver when she first saw them, but now she let it wrack through her. There was nothing to hide from her brother. "I still think something's wrong - I _feel_ it."

Alec raised an eyebrow at her, but said nothing, simply nodded non-committally and stood up, stretching lazily. "I'm going back to sleep, sis. We _did_ get woken up in the middle of the night."

He disappeared into the hallway, his feet making little more than a light padding on the carpet, identical to those of the gray cat trotting along next to him, winding around his ankles. The to left Isabelle standing over the boy, looking down at him suspiciously as he slept. "I don't trust strange men. I just think you should know that before you wake up."

With that she turned and left, following her brother's footsteps nearly to the letter, collapsing tiredly into her bed, not bothering to change out of her clothes for the first time she could remember. As long as she had known the importance of clothes, well, she had decided never to take them for granted. _Strange_, she thought, already drifting too faraway to care.

-x-x-x-x-

The boy shuddered in the small cot, squirming uncomfortably on the thin mattress. _Where am I?_ he wondered at first, before remembering everything. He remembered where he was, and exactly why, too. His father had sent him, and he had to keep an eye on the tiny group of Shadowhunters inside the Institute walls - and one Shadowhunter in particular. Or rather, supposedly _ex_-Shadowhunter, if there were such a thing.

_Ex-Nephilim_, he thought sarcastically. _Impossible._

Moving slowly so the unsteady legs of the cot wouldn't squeak, he slid to the floor, his eyes already darting around the dark corners of the room. No one was there - even his sense of smell picked up no more than a trace of the two Shadowhunters that had been standing over him mere minutes before.

_Fools_, he thought viciously, slipping through the dim hallways with the slithering grace of a snake. _They do not even know who I am._

The boy moved up and down the building's halls, searching the stairs, looking where every door went - he needed to know every little detail,down to the holes in the walls. Stopping briefly before the large wooden pair of doors to listen, he allowed himself a slight grin, nothing more than a twitch at the corners of his lips. _You old man, not even sharp enough to watch your door anymore_, he commented to himself, opening the heavy doors just wide enough to slip inside.

Around him were shelves from floor to ceiling, surrounding him with rows and stacks of musty, ancient books and scrolls. In the center slept an old man - someone the boy recognized with disdain. Sneering, he looked down at Hodge where he lay, his body slumped halfway out of his chair as his head rested awkwardly on a toppled pile of books. Watching the wrinkled, frail-looking man snore obliviously gave him a sudden sense of revulsion. What kind of Shadowhunter could he be, to allow someone to sneak into his vicinity without noticing in the slightest?

"He's going to be less trouble than I thought," the boy mumbled, whispering after he closed the door. "Wonder why I'm even here."

Walking up the stairs, back to the infirmary to maintain his charade, he heard the breathing of the two Nephilim down the hall - the soft noise would have been barely detectable to anyone else's ears, but not for him. To him it was as loud as if they were sleeping at his feet. Quickly, he crept to the nearest of the two occupied rooms, listening intently from just beyond the white door. Inside he could hear the gentle breathing of the girl, the quiet rustle of her sheets as she turned over, then the breathing again.

The boy stood there for a while longer, seconds turning to minutes as he just listened. They were so relaxed, so ignorant - yet some part of him was longing for that. He found himself thinking of all the possibilities - what could his life have been like if he was as normal as them? But he knew it was a lost cause, false hope; he could never be normal. It was already too late for him, and either way, he was far superior.

_Father always said they were below me_, he reminded himself, slinking reluctantly back to his cot._ Father's never wrong._

-x-x-x-x-

I sat up in my room, listening to the sounds of the rats scampering through the rafters, then the inevitable squeak as they were caught up by the vampires now prowling around the entire building like cockroaches, swarming the place. Some were obviously drunk, I noticed by the fact their feet made the occasional sound - that and the constant stream of slurs.

It was the strangest thing, but even in my situation, I didn't pity myself. I pitied the rats. They had been my only company - or living at least - and even thought they couldn't speak of understand me, I had gotten past the whiskers and embraced the only other thing around me. It was in the same situation, more or less - we were both victims to the undead.

I shivered. Suddenly thinking it made it seem it seem all too real, even though I knew it was real. Maybe it just made it sink in, as belated as that was.

I was kidnapped by vampires.

They wanted my blood to "take the throne."

I shivered again, wrapping my arms around myself in an attempt to feel less alone. But I was completely alone, isolated from the rest of the world by something they didn't even know existed beyond the pages of a book. Any hope of being rescued had died the moment Jace had been dragged away by the vampires.

_Jace._ I straightened my back, mentally slapping myself for not thinking of him earlier. Where was he? Surely he was nearby, somewhere, because the building only had so many intact rooms. Didn't it? I stood up, my jeans making a scraping noise as they brushed against the debris on the floor. I tried the doorknob stupidly, even though it had been constantly locked for the length of my stay. Of course it was still locked, but even though I had known that, it still made me grumble angrily to myself.

"Why won't anything go right?"

I nearly fell back to the ground as a flash of light hit my eyes. _What was that?_ I thought, wondering who was there. All I saw were the rats, huddled in the corner of my room to hide from the vamps. I blinked, trying to get the fluorescent blob left behind by the sudden light off my eyes, but it was imprinted there stubbornly. I blinked again, squeezing my eyes shut until the edges began to recede. I thought it was going away, but instead parts of it faded until all that was left was a tiny image, glowing against the darkness.

_What?_ I thought, studying the mass of lines in front of me. I opened my eyes, grabbing for anything to draw with, but I should have known there was nothing there. Slumping my shoulders, I looked around again, well aware it was in vain. I knew I had to draw that mark, like a need that just wouldn't go away. I wondered if it mattered if I drew it in something visible.

Let's hope not, I thought. licking my fingertip and tracing it along the wooden panel of my door, outlining the shape. I didn't stop my finger until it felt right, almost as if I could see what I was doing in the back of my mind, even though the darkness was blocking anything I might have been able to see otherwise. There was an unexpected click and I turned the knob, unsure how I knew it would open.


	10. Chapter 10

**I'm back! And I can actually start to write longer chapters now! Yay!**

* * *

**Chapter Ten**

Isabelle stared into the pan, her eyes watering in the smoke. The smell was delicious, but that was it - the meat sitting on the old cast iron was no more than a blackened lump of . . . something. Even Isabelle didn't know anymore.

_No wonder they never eat my cooking_, she thought, grimacing.

"What the Angel are you killing in there?" Alec cried from outside the kitchen, a smirk on his lips as he stared suspiciously toward the smoking pan.

Isabelle winced before trying to scrape the meat off the pan and throw it out. The spatula couldn't even get beneath the unidentifiable blob. Scowling at her brother, she said, "It _used_ to be a steak."

Alec slapped a hand over his mouth, just barely missing the snort that escaped his nose. Isabelle just turned away, decidedly ignoring her brother as he went through his usual antics. She recited all his jabs in her head as she looked through the knife drawer, her hands moving in quick, angry jerks as she tried to find something to pry the smoldering meat off.

_Don't blow the house up, Iz. Who made you Sweeney Todd, Iz? Who died in here? What did you break now, Iz?_ She fumed silently, her hands growing careless as her head clouded with past sarcasm._ I freaking suck._

"What _is _that?" a vaguely familiar voice asked from behind her, startling her.

"Shit!" She pulled her hands out of the drawer too quickly, slicing the side of her thumb in one long, thin line. Blood spilled over almost immediately, sliding down her hand, over her wrist, and trickling towards her elbow to drip on the floor. "_Fucking Angel!_"

She turned around to see the boy from the Infirmary coming towards her from the doorway, an eyebrow raised. He grabbed a small dish towel from the hook beside the sink, wrapping the other hand around Isabelle's wrist before she could snatch it away. "How the hell did you do _that?_"

Isabelle watched him turn the tap on, wetting the towel with one hand as he held her wrist - he had a firm grip, his fingers easily keeping her from pulling away. She lifted her leg back and kicked the knife drawer shut with her heel. "The knife didn't like me very much," she answered sarcastically. He looked over at her quizzically.

"I was referring to the pan, actually," he said, smirking. Behind him, Alec laughed, his eyes saying clearly, "You can't cook."

Isabelle scowled, trying again to pull her hand back. His fingers didn't budge. "Just hold _still_ already. I'm not going to kill you, especially not with a witness," he said seriously. His eyes didn't give away any emotion as he spoke, staying a deep black even in the bright light of the kitchen.

Isabelle couldn't tell if he was joking or not, deciding to ignore his comments while he carefully wiped away the blood, surprisingly gentle despite the strength of his grip around her wrist. His fingers still held her hand towards him, steadying it as he cleaned the pale skin repeatedly as more blood came out, before deftly folding the cloth into a thick square and holding it around the cut.

"Do you have some gauze?" he asked, not even turning to look as he spoke to Alec. His eyes seemed to wander, landing on anything but the two Shadowhunters.

-x-x-x-x-

The boy looked around the kitchen, his nose overwhelmed with all the smells coming from the cupboards. He glanced at the smoking pan on the stove-top cautiously, the gray smoke gradually getting thicker, even as he watched out of the corner of his eye. The girl - Isabelle, he corrected himself - was impossible. Somehow she had managed to sear the chunk of meat onto the pan and cut herself deep enough to make a pool of blood collect on the floor in the same ten minutes.

"How do they ever leave you _alone_?" he said incredulously, still looking anywhere but her eyes. He settled for her right earring, watching the light reflect off the shiny purple feathers as if it was the most interesting thing in the world. Which of course it wasn't.

"What the Angel am I doing?" he asked himself, not realizing he had spoken aloud.

"Hmm?" Isabelle mumbled, peering into his face curiously and staring at his fingers wrapped around her wrist and thumb. "What _are_ you doing?"

He cleared his throat self-consciously. "Uh. . . I . . . Saving you from a vicious battle wound?" he joked, breathing a sigh of relief when she began to laugh.

_What am I doing? Why am I acting like this?_ he wondered. _Did I just make a joke?_

He felt her eyes on him and chanced a look at her eyes. She was staring back at him, her dark black eyes sparkling as she said sarcastically, "Death by bloody thumb. How heroic."

_Say something funny. Funny, funny, funny_. . . "That would be something for the history books," he said before he could think, cringing the moment the words were out of his mouth._ Fail._

Isabelle raised a perfectly sculpted eyebrow at him, a small smile pulling up the corner of her mouth. "Indeed," she said, just as he said, "Forget-"

They both stopped and looked at each other, each grinning stupidly. "What did you say?" she asked.

"Just, forget it. It was stupid. I mean - not that-"

She cut him off with a giggle, her dark hair falling over her face as she shook her head. "Stop! Stop!" She kept giggling, making his face heat up slowly.

_What's happening? My face feels hot_, he thought, confused.

"Aw, don't blush!" she said, her lips still pulled in a beautiful smile. "I didn't mean to laugh at you, you were just so. . . . "

"What?" he asked, getting irritated. She had been laughing at him. Laughing at_ him_. Unbelievable. Nobody ever laughed at him, no matter how slap-happy they were - he always scared them off, first.

_What am I turning into? Who the hell am I?_ he thought, disgusted with himself._ Apparently a joke._

"You're just so nervous," she said, laughter still apparent in her voice. "You're adorable."

He felt his face grow hotter and he tried not to grit his teeth as he spoke. "Adorable?" he asked incredulously. "Did you seriously just call me _adorable_?"

"Maybe," she grinned, then smirked at him. "Maybe not."

"Unbelievable," he muttered, voicing his thoughts. "You're just . . . impossible."

"Big words from someone who doesn't even have a name," she said flatly, her eyes searching him suspiciously.

"I have a name," he said indignantly.

"Oh yeah? Well spill it."

He lifted his hand from around her wrist, gently reaching to brush her hair from her face, his fingertips dancing with bits of lightning where they traced her skin.

"It's Jonathon."

-x-x-x-x-

I snuck through the halls as quietly as I could, paranoid that the vampires were able to hear every sound I made, even the frantic beating of my heart. It felt like it was going to explode in my chest any moment, and I didn't want to run into Raphael anymore. I had run into him enough in the past few days, and every time he said something I felt like it had a double-meaning.

I thought back to earlier, when he had caught me wandering the hall after coming in from the roof. He had begun muttering things about my blood again, speaking so fast and softly that I could only catch a few words. For some reason he was talking about angels and sun, every few sentences spoken in rapid Spanish. I could have sworn I heard him say something about my mother, but when I asked he just gave me one of his strange, toothy grins that exposed his fangs.

I shivered, hating the memory. Everything had begun to get so confusing since Jace's parents had been killed, and almost nothing made sense anymore. The police had said they died from the same knife wound, as if they had been stabbed facing each other. But that had never made sense. They had been found laying next to each other, three feet of blood-soaked asphalt separating them as they gazed emptily up into the smoggy Brooklyn sky, waiting for someone to find them outside the back door of Pandemonium.

And someone did.

I still remembered the look on Jace's face when we walked out that door, the way his hand had automatically reached out to make sure I was still there, still breathing. We had barely been four feet away, waiting for the cops to come, when the smell had hit us. We both turned to each other, wrinkling our noses as I forced a weak smile and told him it would be okay. It would all work out, I had assured him, wrapping my arms around him while he rubbed my back. Now we knew just how big a lie that was.

A part of him had died that night, I was sure of it. And I had been there to watch, naively thinking I could help.

I gritted my teeth and shook my head. Maybe I was still naive, maybe I was too stubborn for my own good - but I still felt like I could help.

-x-x-x-x-

Jace lay on the cold concrete floor, his head resting on his arm as he sprawled out in the corner. He had been dumped there roughly an hour ago, and still he could hardly find the strength to lift his head. They had done something to him, but he didn't even have enough energy to remember that. All his mind could come up with was blood - rivers and rivers of blood. Every time he closed his eyes, there it was, gathering in thick pools around his feet. There wasn't any emotion, either. Just pain.

_Pain_, he thought wearily. _What a strange word. _

But there it was, aching in his shoulder where their sharp nails had sunk into his flesh as they dragged him into this excuse for a building. It had spread to everywhere else, by now, enveloping his body in agony with each breath he took. He took a deep breath, bracing himself as he tried again to sit up. He willed his arms to press against the ground, to push himself off the ground. But they barely shook, tingling with raw pain with every muscle he moved.

_Useless,_ he thought morosely. _Pathetic._

-x-x-x-x-

"Where the Angel did Jace get off to?" Alec asked when he rounded the corner into the kitchen, a thick square of gauze and medical tape in his almost dropped them at what he saw.

Isabelle was smiling up at the strange boy, and his fingers were tangling themselves in his hair.

"What were you two doing while I was gone?" Alec asked suspiciously, eying the way the boy's fingers lingered in his sister's hair for a moment before wrapping back around her wrist.

"We were just talking, Alec," Isabelle said, scowling at him before she said dramatically, "Why do you always think the worst of me?"

Alec rolled his eyes and ignored her. "Here's the gauze."

"So who's this Jace guy?" the boy asked, winding the gauze around Isabelle's thumb.

"Who's _this _guy?" Alec countered, raising his eyebrows at Isabelle questioningly.

"Jonathon," the two of them answered at the same time. They both looked at each other before bursting into nervous laughter.

"Ooookay then," Alec said, turning on his heel and sitting on a bar stool by the island. Folding his arms, he asked, "When did you two get so chummy?"

"'_Chummy?_'" his sister teased. "Who says that? Really?"

"You're dodging the question."

"We just talked. End of story._ Good_-bye!" She giggled and rolled her eyes. "Stop worrying! It's all good."

"Mmm-hmm. But anyways, back to my _original_ question. Ha-"

"Oh, spit it out."

"I _would_ if _someone _would stop interrupting!" He glared at Isabelle before asking, "Do you have any idea where Jace is?"

"Nooo," his sister answered jokingly. "And you shouldn't care so much. It's not like we're baby-sitting him."

"I know, Iz. He's just been running back and forth all week, and I haven't seen him here at all since Clary disappeared. Doesn't that sound weird to you?" Alec spun nervously in the chair as he spoke. "He's usually here all the time. That guy practically _lives_ in the training room."

"I guess it is a little weird not seeing him at all but I mean, how do we know he's not just at home sick or something?" Isabelle looked down at her hand, watching the boy wrap medical tape around the gauze.

"It's called a phone, Iz," Alec said flatly. "I called and this old lady picked up. She sounded a hell of a lot like Inquisitor Imogen."

"Weird. What'd she say?"

"Just that he had been out for a while and hadn't been back since Thursday. She sounded worried but said she hadn't called the police," Alec continued, still spinning on the stool. "The weirdest thing was that she said I would understand. It was like she_ knew_."

"Don't be ridiculous."

Jonathon let go of Isabelle's hand and looked over at Alec. "Where do you think he would be?"

"That's just it. I have no idea," Alec said, shrugging. "He just kind of disappeared."

Isabelle frowned, her eyebrows pulling together as she thought.

"You could always go to a warlock," Jonathon offered after the silence grew too unbearable."I've heard there's a High Warlock nearby."

* * *

**Te-he! Here we go!**


	11. Chapter 11

**I am so sorry it took so long to get this posted. I couldn't figure out how to write it, so this is the third incarnation or something. I kept writing and then deleting it all over again. Not fun. :(**

**I'm still waiting for that appearance description of Jonathon, by the way. . . . .  
**

* * *

**Chapter Eleven  
**

Alec grumbled to himself, scuffing his feet frustratedly along the sidewalk. They had been wandering around Brooklyn for nearly an hour, and yet there had been no sign that they were in the right place. He had searched for any information on where to find this High Warlock character, but no luck - it just said he was somewhere in Brooklyn. Big help that was. He kicked a pebble into a nearby light post, listening to it _ping_ against the metal.

"Jeez, Alec," Isabelle chimed from behind him, her steps carefully timed to keep pace with Jonathon. "Lighten up, will you?"

"We will find him eventually," added Jonathon, his eyes skidding over the slowly brightening sky. "There has to be some kind of clue, right?"

Alec just grunted. He knew he was acting stupid, but he couldn't help it. Ever since he had left his sister alone with that stranger - which wasn't his smartest move, when he thought about it - they had been so. . . . friendly. It was like they were_ friends_. How did _that_ happen? It still confused Alec when he thought about it. He had only been gone for three minutes, tops, and now there he was, the odd one out. All alone. Sulking.

Isabelle's light laugh rang out behind him, the sound seeming as loud as a fog-horn in the morning silence and Alec gritted his teeth, tucking his chin farther into the neck of his thick wool jacket. This was going to be a long day.

"What did you say his name was, again?" Alec asked, not bothering to look over his shoulder as he spoke.

"I didn't," Jonathon answered bluntly."I can't quite remember."

Alec frowned. "Why don't_ you _ask him, Isabelle?"

"Um. . . . Are you sure?" he heard Isabelle ask behind him as he kept walking. "I mean - you can't even remember an initial?"

"Hmm. . . Let me think about it. . ." Jonathon paused, maybe just to be dramatic. "Oh, yes. I do think I remember _something._"

"Well _what_ then?" Alec asked, surprising himself when it came out as more of a snarl. "We don't have all day, you know. He could be _anywhere_."

"Ah, Angel. When you put it that way. . . ." Alec could hear the smirk in his words and grit his teeth, but it didn't work this time. He had had enough of this irritating stranger.

Suddenly he gave an exasperated yell, spinning around on his heel and scowling at Jonathon, stopping him short. "We need to find him. We are run_ning_. Out. Of. _Time!_" Jonathon opened his mouth to speak, but Alec cut him off. "No. We don't have_ time_ for your stupid,_ selfish_, idiotic games. Or your flirting. _Both_ of you."

Isabelle blushed. "But-"

"No buts!" Alec spun back around, already down the block by the time he spoke. "Now what_ the hell _was his_ name?_"

Jonathon muttered something under his breath before answering. "Name's Bane."

Alec snorted, managing to roll his eyes through his frustration. "Aren't they all? Really - what's his name?"

"That's it. Or at least . . . part of it. It's all I've heard of him by," Jonathon admitted slightly sheepishly.

Alec let out a loud sigh, giving up. He hardly ever knew why he cared about anything any more, but once in a while there was something that just felt too important to let go. It had been happening more often lately, since Jace had shown up, and every time his temper seemed to get worse. Kicking another pebble across the street, he scanned for any signs of the living while the rage inside him subsided. Nothing - not even slight movement of a curtain as he passed by.

_I guess it is barely six in the morning,_ he thought half-heartedly, not quite believing it himself. "Where _is_ everybody?"

"Probably still asleep. Like I should be," Isabelle answered, adding a yawn just to make her point. "You know I'm not a morning person, especially now that Maryse made us start going to school."

Alec rolled his eyes. "Sure, most are probably asleep, but honestly. No one? Not even that one person who has to go to work early? Or catch a bus?" Alec stopped walking to look at his sister, an eyebrow raised. "You can't honestly tell me that no one should be awake by now. This is _Brooklyn_, for God's sake!"

She shrugged. "So? Just because no one's a awake doesn't mean that something's terribly wrong."

Alec stared into his sister's black eyes, looking for something to justify her ignorance. "Well, yeah, but-"

"The streets aren't filled with blood yet, are they? Is the sky on fire like Hodge said it was once when he was our age? Has th-"

"Isabelle," Jonathon said lightly, looking at the approaching corner of the block.

"-and the ground broken apart beneath us? The ocean hasn't-"

"Isabelle!" Jonathon shouted, weariness seeping through his words.

Isabelle spun around to face him, her eyes wide as she watched him.

-x-x-x-x-

Jonathon suppressed a shiver when she turned, refusing to let the sentimental side of him take over. Even when she let her mouth relax like that, her soft pink lips parting in the center as if she was catching her breath. Or when her hair fell over her eyes. . . .

_Stop it!_ he reprimanded himself, clearing his throat nervously before he spoke. "I think I found him."

That got their attention, and before he could tell them where to look, they were already sprinting after the tall leather-clad figure loping easily down the street. All Jonathon could do was catch up as they ran, hoping he had found the right warlock as Alec grabbed hold of a tree branch and swung over a slow moving crowd blocking his way, oblivious to their awed stares while he moved quickly above their heads.

"Are they supposed to be able to see us?" Jonathon asked, not a bit out of breath.

Isabelle furrowed her brows in confusion, looking oddly at the group of humans littering the sidewalk. They seemed average at a glance, but no one knew what was really beneath the surface. You couldn't be too careful these days, Isabelle had found. It was as she was eying them that a thought came to her.

"Wasn't everybody asleep two seconds ago? I thought this street was completely empty," Isabelle said aloud, stopping to look around her, her eyebrows raised slightly on her forehead.

Jonathon stopped beside her, staring into the quickly growing crowd of people on the corners around the intersection as more poured out from the streets. There were people walking in the middle of the road, hanging out of windows, watching out the windows of parked cars. All of them were looking at one figure walking calmly down the sidewalk, his dark spiked hair shimmering rainbow in the sunlight like gasoline on water.

"It _was_ empty, Isabelle," Jonathon answered in a whisper. "All we did was blink."

* * *

**Hmm. . . . . Sorry this took so long. Apparently I'm getting popular as a beta (not to mention school seems to bring on my Writer's Block).  
**


	12. Chapter 12

**This chapter is WAAAAY longer than the last one. YAY! Sorry the other one was so short, so this one (hopefully) will make up for it. :D**

**And the song of the chapter is. . . *drumroll* Zombies Ate My Neighbors by Single File. Awesome song. And it kinda suits the chapter, too. ;3**

* * *

**Chapter Twelve  
**

I listened to the floorboards creaking beneath, holding my breath every time the ancient wood seemed about to break beneath me. It was more silent then I had ever heard it be since I had entered the decrepit building, and for a second I thought I had finally caught a break and the vampires had left me alone. But no. There, through a tiny, almost non-existent crack in the boarded-up windows, was light.

_Is it real? _I wondered almost wistfully, reaching a hand forward tentatively to see if it . . . . what? What did I think it would do? Burn me? I had to swallow a laugh in the silence, knowing it would ring through the building like a fog horn to the vampire's ears. I gulped, realizing what the sunlight meant. _They're still here. They're_ all _here._

Quickly, I pulled my hand out of the sunlight, knowing now that there was even less time then I had thought. Usually there had only been maybe ten vampires slinking around the moonlit, shadowy corridors and leaping across broken beams or staircases, but now it was daytime. They all had to cower in the darkness until the sun set again, bringing them all into this one place, sleeping all around me in massive hoards. Now there were hundreds.

I shivered at the thought, turning a corner to an empty hall, dim light barely illuminating the three doors running along the walls.

_Jace_, I thought. _Where are you?_

I stopped in front of the first door, turning the doorknob slowly and wincing as the corroding metal gave a quiet screech. Peering into the room, I already knew it would be empty. _If he was in it, it would have been locked,_ I reasoned, already closing the door and moving on to the next, but that one was unlocked, too.

I let out a sigh, pulling the door slowly closed and listening carefully for any signs of movement. I stared down the hall, waiting for the muffled click of the door latching in place. Instead something dripped on my hand.

"What are_ you_ doing down here?" a smooth, malicious voice asked from behind the door as I snapped my head up. The door was still open a slit, barely wide enough to see the shining pair of deep red eyes staring back at me hungrily. Not bothering to look at the thing on my hand or answer, I slammed the door shut and sprinted to the next, frantically jiggling the stiff brass knob.

"Oh, of course it just had to be this one," I whispered sarcastically, already smearing my spit on the wooden door. Trying to ignore the rattle of buckles and chains coming toward me down the hall, I ran my finger over the peeling paint, rapidly tracing the symbol again.

_I hope it's right_, I thought, just as the handle clicked.

"You can't outrun the undead, little girl," the haunting voice called behind me just as I tore the door open, chunks of rust flying from the old metal. Layers of chains clinked together as she continued to walk toward me, knowing she could easily catch me, but I ran through the door anyway, locking it behind me.

"Crap," I breathed, leaning against the closed door as I tried to slow my breath. She was right there, waiting for me to come out. I could feel her apprehension seeping through the walls, ready to grab me the moment she could. I closed my eyes, taking breaths so slow and deep I felt like I was going to burst.

_Everything will be fine. Just find Jace and get out of here,_ I thought, trying to convince myself it was true. My breathing went back to normal and I took one last deep breath. _Now, open your eyes._

I lifted my eyelids slowly, the room a mess of black and gray, everything fuzzy around the edges in the thick shadows. I looked around, searching the featureless shapes for anything familiar. Anything resembling the boy I had known my whole life.

Nothing. The emptiness seemed to mock with its silence as I glanced around desperately, grasping for any shred of hope in my suddenly dismal present. Dust settled on the plain concrete floor, forming a barrier over everything that could have once given the room life, sucking it dry.

_Just like the vampires inside it,_ I thought. _Fitting place for a leech to live._

"I know you're still in there," the vampire whispered through the door, her words penetrating my skin like daggers as I fought for some explanation in the dark. Jace had to be somewhere, and if he wasn't in here, why had the door been locked?

I moved around the room circling until I found an old mattress propped against the back corner of the room, the dust across it spread thinner then anywhere in the rest of the room. Frowning, I grabbed hold of the torn, musty fabric and pulled, just hard enough to look behind.

There was a door.

_Well of course the vampire kidnappers have a hidden door,_ I thought sarcastically, slipping between the mattress and the wall until I reached the door knob. I wrapped my fingers around the crumbling lump and turned it, hoping all the while that it had been left unlocked. _Please, please, please. . . ._

_Click!_

I let out a breath and pushed the door outward, glad it didn't open in my direction and hit the mattress, and slipped through, locking the door behind just for good measure. I knew that if the vampire waiting outside the other room for me got impatient, there was little those doors would do but slow her down a little, but even that would barely effect her.

_So hurry up, you idiot,_ I chided, taking in the small room. A large square was built in the roof above a pile of broken, splintered wood too small to be used as defence, and when I stood beneath it and look up I saw the square repeated in all the levels above it, as if something had once run through to the roof. Looking back at the pile of debris by my feet, it clicked.

_Duh, it used to be a staircase._ I rolled my eyes at my stupidity as I stared up at the rooms above me, wondering if Jace was in any of them. _How the hell am I going to get_ up _there?_

Metal screeched somewhere behind me and I cringed, praying it wasn't one of the doors I had just come through. Chains clinked faintly through the walls, and I knew I was doomed. It was only a matter of time before she caught up to me, and by then it would be too late. Looking up at the square in the ceiling, I wished not for the first time that I could fly. It would be so much easier if I could just grow wings right there.

I was about to blow out a sigh, only to stop myself. If she didn't already know where I was, it was best not to give her any clues. Who knows? Maybe I could buy myself some time, though I doubted it.

_What was that symbol I drew?_ I wondered curiously, staring at my fingertips. _How did that work?_

I remembered the power flowing through my veins, like electricity and triple-shot espresso at the same time, filling me with energy so full and alive that I felt as if I could crash through walls or jump across oceans. If only I could find that again, and somehow make it to the next level. Or guide myself to Jace. Maybe that was too much to ask for.

I concentrated on wings, imagining the flapping of feathers against the air, wind in my face, my body rising above the floor with each stroke. I recalled the bright flash of light earlier, blinding myself with the intensity of it. Just like before, it began to fade, only this time it formed something different. The lines moved in different directions, some curving around each other, some straight. I looked at it, biting my lip and hoping my desperation wasn't influencing what I saw, because it was exactly what I needed.

The symbol looked like a pair of wings.

Once again, I licked my finger, by now far beyond cringing as the spit toughed my skin. I traced the symbol on the back of my skin, waiting for something to happen when I was finished. Instead, all I heard was the door creaking open behind me.

"I told you I'd find you," the vampire hissed, sending goosebumps down my arms. They were tingling, as if every muscle had begun to fall asleep, slowly sending my entire body into waves of convulsions as I watched the vampire's face helplessly. "What have you done?" she gasped, shadows seeping through the gap between her lips as I rose from the ground, faintly aware of something attached to my back pulling me upwards.

"What. . . ?" I breathed, speechless, while she leaped at my feet, clawing at my ankles angrily. Kicking my legs wildly as I rose, I managed a glimpse behind me, long auburn feathers brushing against my hands.

I had wings.

Gingerly, I reached a hand toward one, stroking the soft surface just as slender fingers wrapped around my leg, tugging me down with a single jerk. Before I could react I was hurdling toward the floor, the pile of broken wood all at once appearing like spikes waiting to skewer me when I fell. I tried to concentrate on beating my wings harder, but her sharp fingernails only tore into my skin, my crimson blood slithering over her pasty hands to drip on the forgotten floor, bright as a flashlight against the dull cracked concrete.

"I will have you, Clarissa," the vampire spat, digging her nails farther into my ankle, nearly hitting the bone."You Morgenstern's aren't going anywhere . . . . alive."

I stifled a scream as pain seared through my leg, knowing I was getting of easy with just one blood-sucker. Gulping in air, I said, "How the fuck do you know, you wrinkly corpse?"

Choking back another scream, I wrenched my ankle out of her grasp, chunks of skin tearing away to stick beneath her nails while she sneered, already coiling for another leap. I grimaced as my ankle throbbed, sweeping my wings with as much power as I could, rocketing toward the hole in the roof to the sound of muttered profanities below. My fingertips grazed the wood around the edges, slick with sweat as I fumbled to grip the surface and steered myself to the side.

"And I'm not a bloody Morgenstern, either," I spat down through the hole, tumbling to the second floor in a tired swirl of feathers and torn clothes.

Letting out a breath, I ran my fingers through my hair, holding the tangled red strands out of my eyes as I raised my chin off the floor to peer around, my body sprawled across the cold concrete. I don't know what I had been expecting to find, but as I looked around from floor-level, all I saw was blood - it was smeared across the walls, pooling on the dirty floor, staining the roof in rusty splatters.

I shivered, crossing my fingers it wasn't Jace's, but already knowing it probably was while I pushed myself up to get a better view. My hair fell back in my eyes, collecting in grimy swaths over my oily, dirt-streaked face as I sucked in my breath. There was a figure slumped against the back corner or the room, his head resting limply on the ground, limbs curled close together in the dried puddle of blood.

_Jace, _I thought, tears gathering in my eyes.

I bent over him, holding his face in my palms and forcing a smile when his eyelids flickered, but they stayed closed, his breathing slow and shallow. I shook my head to myself, brushing my lips softly against his before wrapping my arms around him and dragging him up the lean over my shoulder, his body no more than a rag doll as I struggled under his weight. Taking a deep breath, I focused on moving my wings, feeling them shudder against my back as my feet lifted off the ground and I floundered slowly through the string of squares, praying I'd make it to the top.

-x-x-x-x-

"Look! There he goes, down the street!" Isabelle whispered furiously, already sprinting down the road, shoving through the growing crowd of people conversing in the her, Jonathon followed, people grunting unappreciatively as they stormed through, but they didn't care - didn't even notice - all they could see was the man with the inky spikes walking through the throngs of bystanders, and they needed to catch up.

"Are you sure that's him?" Jonathon asked, pumping his arms as he caught up to her, running close enough for their elbows to brush.

Isabelle simple looked at him, one eyebrow raised in disbelief. "Gee, I wonder who else would be the warlock near here. Do you know? Because I'm pretty sure most of them look like_ that_-" she cocked her head towards the man "-over there. What do you say?"

Jonathon gave up, looking ahead in time to see a familiar figure leap over a trash can to land beside the man, his stride seemingly relaxed as he fell into step. "Hey, isn't that Alec?"

"Of course!" Isabelle said. "Who else would be walking up to strange spiky-haired men after a rather long, show-offy display of monkey-ninja skills?"

Jonathon coughed, almost running into a girl in front of him as he looked incredulously at Isabelle. "_Monkey-ninja skills?_"

"Mhmm. And I think you could use some of those right about now," she commented as he nearly tripped over a small, scurrying chihuahua. He scowled, speeding up until Isabelle was fighting to stay behind him, her eyes watching him intently as he closed in on Alec and the strange man.

-x-x-x-x-

"Excuse me?" Alec said softly as he landed beside the man, his shoes soundless on the pavement. The man ignored him, only a quick glance out the corner of his eye revealing he had heard. "Are you Bane?"

The man grinned, sharp white teeth pulling into a grim smile as he continued to look ahead. "I make a habit of avoiding Shadowhunters." He glanced over, his face turning just enough for Alec to see the slitted pupils in his eyes before he went back to staring straight ahead. "Even the cute ones."

Alec blushed, clearing his throat behind his fist. "We came for a little help," he said slowly, trying not to stammer, showing the man's comment had effected him. "Some people disappeared a week ago, and uh. . . Um, I . . ."

The man chuckled, sunlight glinting off the dark blue glitter spread across his eyes, lining his eyebrows, sprinkled in his hair. Alec gulped, looking away when the man spoke. "I'm going to save you the trouble of finishing that sentence and say, 'Yes, I can tell you where they are,' and, 'Yes, you have to pay me.'" His eyes bored into Alec's, searching for something in his controlled expression. "Agreed?"

"What kind of payment?" Alec hooked his thumbs through his belt loops, watching the warlock calculating in his head.

"The kind you'll like," he answered vaguely, grinning like the Cheshire Cat.

"What_ kind?_" Alec asked, enunciating slowly as his eyes turned to slits.

The warlock kept grinning, a glint in his eyes as he said, "You won't miss it."

Alec gritted his teeth, clenching his fists. "What_ is_ it?" he almost spat, hardly stopping himself from glaring at the man before him.

The man looked into his eyes, leaning so close Alec could see feel his breath against his skin.

"Just a kiss."

* * *

***evil grin* Hehehe. . . . . **


	13. Chapter 13

**Enjoy! And don't forget to review, because that's what makes me update. :D**

* * *

**Chapter Thirteen**

Alec stared into the man's yellow-green eyes, watching the slitted pupils for any sign that it was a joke. He had to be joking, right? But then again. . . . Downworlders had asked for some pretty strange favors. This was nothing in comparison, but he had to say no. He knew never to make a bargain with Downworlders. He knew. But he was so close. . . . . .

He gulped, hoping it wasn't audible. "What?"

The warlock smiled rakishly, his lips barely an inch from Alec's. "Don't tell me you could not hear me, little Shadowhunter. I can see it in your eyes."

"But, why?" Alec asked before he knew the words were coming out of his mouth. "Wait, no! I have the money."

He reached into his jeans pocket as footsteps stopped behind him on the pavement, pulling out a couple bills. "See, here? I can pay," he said, trying to cover up his anxiety. "Now can you do it?"

Alec looked up to meet his eyes, but the warlock wasn't looking at him. His face was no longer hovering near Alec's but pulled tight as he watched something over Alec's shoulder, a steely look in his eyes. With cold precision he said, "You never mentioned the company you keep, Nephilim."

"What's that supposed to mean?" a familiar female voice asked from behind, making Alec roll his eyes in exasperation, and a little relief. Isabelle. Of course.

"Not you," the warlock said sharply, turning on his heel to continue walking down the road. "Follow. I assume you'll have no trouble keeping up."

-x-x-x-x-

Magnus fumed silently as his feet slapped against the concrete, purposely letting his feet slam into the ground. He could hear the hunters following behind him, as he knew they would, but it stil infuriated him. To think he had even thought he had a chance with that boy.

He scoffed. _Nephilim. All the same, _he thought, a half-hearted smile playing on his lips. _All too good for sparkly old freaks like me._

Magnus stopped briefly beneath the arch of his door to glance around him, but he didn't need to. No one but the Nephilim were watching. With a nearly imperceptible flick of his wrist, the thick oak door swung open. Tiny blue bolts of lightning curled around his fingers, dancing on his tanned skin as he beckoned for the three children to enter.

"I would say, 'Forgive the mess,' but I'm sure you have all seen worse," he said, deciding not to bother raising a hand to make their presence welcome. They were Shadowhunters, after all. To them, he was no more than a tissue - use once and throw away. "I'm will not disillusion you into thinking I enjoy your company in the least, so waste no time with your request."

Isabelle raised an eyebrow skeptically, but kept her mouth closed, to the warlock's relief. He had heard things about that one, none of them anything he hoped to be directed at him. The other - her sibling, it seemed - now that was another story completely. The dark-haired boy stood slightly hunched, his thumbs hooked in his jeans pockets, as if he was hiding from the world. Magnus sympathized, for no matter the length of time that passed, the memories of long days of running would never fade. Pain was always the hardest to forget.

"We're looking for an ally of theirs-" the third figure said, quickly noticing his mistake. "Ours. He went missing about a week ago."

Magnus had nearly forgotten about the third one, perhaps simply hoping he had been lost in the crowds. When he spoke, the warlock slit his eyes, knowing what the others did not with a single glance and a fragment of a sentence. Staring intensely at the tall, white-blond creature, he mulled over what to say, or if he should say anything at all.

"You." Magnus snapped his gaze briefly toward the two Shadowhunters and back before speaking again. "You are a stranger to the Institute, though not as much as you let them believe."

The peculiar boy's shoulders tensed, his coal-black eyes focusing on Magnus, the two locking eyes long enough for a sliver of thought to pass into Magnus's mind.

"In fact. . . . " He let his voice trail off, waiting for the reaction he knew would come. All he had to do was watch.

"Downworlders lie. You are no exception," the pale boy spat, his face contorting in a blink to a mass of bitter lines.

"You forget. I am not inclined to help you unless I wish." His cat's eyes fixed once again on the emptiness of the stranger's eyes. "Watch who you accuse, someday you may regret it."

Another voice pierced through the thick tension in the air, setting Magnus's skin tingling with fire. "Can you track him, or not?"

-x-x-x-x-

Alec shoved his hands further into his pockets, a part of him inexplicably timid as he watched the warlock flash a knowing smile, the slightly pointed tip of an eyetooth showing bright white against his light brown skin. A lean, muscled hand reached toward Alec, the palm open and waiting.

"I require payment, as you should remember. Or are all those years of brawn over brains beginning to take effect?" His lyrical voice had barely ceased speaking when he appeared mere inches from Alec, moist pink tongue gliding smoothly over his soft upper lip. "My offer still stands, if you should choose it."

Alec gulped around the rock in his throat, hoping against hope that no one had heard him. When he spoke, his voice was far steadier than he felt. "As before, I can pay in cash. Just track him quickly." Stepping back lithely, he added, "It has been far too long already."

The warlock nodded, swiftly moving to the center of the room with the grace of a gazelle, all long limbs and fluid steps. "Start counting out the money." As he crouched to the wooden floor, blue sparks began to crackle at the tips of his shimmering spikes, a strand of jet hair falling over his angular face. "As you said, it has already taken too much time."

"How much?" Alec asked, the bills already in his fingers. He focused on them, trying to block out everything else but the feel of them on his skin - anything to distract him from the way the light played over the Downworlder before him.

Without twitching so much as an eyelid, Bane answered. "Depends on the creature, distance. . . What was the name?"

Alec gulped again, staring past the warlock with weak determination, focusing on anything in the room but those yellow-green eyes. They seemed to stare into his soul, prodding through his mind to see the darkest recesses and drag out his most hidden secrets.

"Jace Wayland," he said, aware of his sister watching him intently as he spoke. "His name is Jace Wayland."

-x-x-x-x-

I beat my wings harder, the effort already beginning to wear on my muscles as I climbed higher and higher. The roof approached agonizingly slowly, the splintering wood mocking me with each feeble sweep of my auburn wings. A feather drifted to the ground, and I hoped, not for the first time, that there was some way to escape on the top floor. The only door to the outside I knew of led to the roof, but I didn't have the slightest idea where I was, the thick shadows having usually obscured the corridors from my vision. All I could do was wish.

"Jeez, Jace!" I muttered under my breath, wheezing slightly. My arms screamed as I clung him to me, his unconscious form slumped heavily against my body as I flew. Blood-soaked clothing rubbed against me, streaks of dark crimson staining my ragged clothes everywhere he touched "You _so_ need to take a shower!"

It may have occurred to me that I was talking to someone who most likely was completely unaware I was speaking, but after all I had been through in the past however-many days, I think I was entitled a moment of insanity.

"You cannot fly away forever, little Nephilim," the vampire sang from below. "I will follow you."

I swept my wings downward, pushing myself up a couple more feet, trying to block out the sound of her voice calling up to me. I reminded myself of the tiny ray of light shining weakly through the hole in the wall, restoring a shred of hope. The sun was rising. All I had to do was get outside, then we would be free until night enveloped again.

There was scuffling beneath me, the sounds of doors creaking open and pieces of wood skidding across concrete. When the singing came next, I felt chills seep through to my core. The vampires were gathering, one by one, and I knew they were not the last.

"We will always follow," the multitude of voices sang, the sound filling the dusty air around me with eery, haunting words as they ricocheted from the crumbling walls. "Always."

The tip of my auburn wing brushed the edge of the final level, and I nearly sighed in relief, but it was far from over. Clutching Jace against me, I scrambled onto the top floor, not daring to look down at the crowd of vampires staring up at me from the stories below. A door stood before me, white paint yellowing and cracked. Gently, I pulled it open, peering with a strange mixture of despair and disbelief at the cavernous room on the other side.

The room had not changed a bit since I had last seen it, walking lightly along the decaying banister and running from the shattering lights. My heart skipped as I looked for the metal door, scanning feverishly as muffled footsteps came from behind me. Spinning my head, I saw the vampires leaping from floor to floor, their agile limbs like loaded springs as they soared upward, launching closer to me with each breath.

_Run, you idiot,_I chastised myself, forcing my tired legs to move. It was painful, each hurried step rushing through my sore tendons like lightning through water, sending my eyes watering. I kept running awkwardly, half dragging Jace along as I heaved his torso over my shoulder and stumbled toward the metal door. _Run._

Behind me, the footsteps grew louder, creeping closer as I reached the bottom of the thin metal stairs. I gritted my teeth as the stairs rattled beneath my feet, each step echoing as my shoes pounded against them toward the top.

"We told you we would follow," the vampires sang from behind me, their voices unnervingly close, now. I risked a glance back and almost tripped, catching myself in time to throw my hand down and stop my head from cracking against the step. I winced as the sharp grates slashed through my skin, cuts pouring burgundy into the dim shadows.

_Blood,_ I thought just as the thirsty hisses hit my ears. "Shit!"

I flung myself back onto my feet as the horde of sickly pale creatures swarmed onto the stairs all at once, each as impatient to reach me as the next. It would slow them down a little, I hoped, sprinting as well as I could with Jace sprawled across me, the toes of his scuffed black boots dragging behind me. My palm hit the cool metal of the door with enough force to sting, dripping blood down the smooth surface.

_Wait,_ I thought, desperately trying to form a plan. _Please work. Please, please, please._

Poising my fingertip just above the burgundy hand print I had left, I focused on a single word. I felt my eyes strain and my body tremble with electricity before a puzzle of lines wavered in the air, lazily moving into a shape of jagged lines. My finger traced the symbol into the blood, smears of blood overlapping and changing until I knew it was right.

My fingers trembled with power as I pressed them on top of the drawing. _Tumble._

Even as I turned the handle and slipped through the door to the fresh air, I could feel the building shake. Every brick seemed to move under my feet, clouds of dust and mortar floating into the dawn air, the small particles barely visible in the weak light of the slowly rising sun. I couldn't stay there on the roof, couldn't waste any time. I wracked my brain for anything Raphael might have said, anything I had seen. The only thing I could see up there beside me were those damn motorcycles.

_Click!_ A light bulb went on over my head. _The motorcycles. _

I remembered all those nights I had spent listening to the sounds around me, the weird voices, the creaks of the walls, the rats scurrying around me. But always the motorcycles. Every night, I heard the motorcycles. Every night, the engines rumbled to life above me, disappearing off the roof. I tried to remember if I had ever heard them near the ground. To my left? Right?

But it wasn't possible. It couldn't be. And that's when I realized I was being a complete hypocrite. I had met vampires, and hell, if they existed, so could flying motorcycles. Right?

It was then I began to wonder just how insane I had become.

The ground shook, sending a long crack through the roof at my feet. I leaped away, toward the motorcycles, toward my only hope. I thought of the way the motorcycle had felt beneath me when I sat on it, almost as if it could move. As if it were _alive. _They had looked so sleek and dangerous in the moonlight, I remembered, their paint glossy and nearly ethereal in the dark. It was just me, Jace, and them, now, mysteriously parked on the roof with no explanation how.

_Unless they flew,_ the insane, stubborn voice in my head prodded, pushing me toward the machines.

_But flying motorcycles do not exist_. I chided as another crack appeared, splitting the chunks of slate into pieces. I swallowed nervously, knowing I had only seconds to decide. It was like a game show, two doors holding a possibility. Door One: be crushed by a collapsing building and/or be eaten by vampires. Door Two: drive a motorcycle off the top of a five-story building and be smushed like a bug. _Lovely. I can't imagine what sounds more fun._

I bit my lip, taking another step toward the motorcycles. The same aura of magic surrounded them, but their dark beauty was marred in the rising sun, the light revealing their flaws to the smallest scratch. They seemed so normal, as if they were just motorcycles. Maybe they were. Doubt cascaded through me, mixing with guilt as I stared at Jace, his head hung limply to the side. I couldn't kill him, too.

A small, demonic voice piped up in the back of my head, saying, _But he's already dying._

I shook my head, blinking rapidly and banishing the thought. He couldn't die. Not Jace. Not the boy I had once thought of as an angel as he teased me for being clumsy, or ran away with my drawings, laughing when he saw one of him. He could never die. Not while I still lived.

With a final step, I walked toward the nearest motorcycle, the midnight blue one I had sat on that one night. The one Raphael had said was his. Holding my breath, I swung a leg over it, shaking with the trembling of the building. Beside me a chunk of brick fell from the wall, plummeting to the deserted street below. I tried not to think about how that could be me, but I realized I preferred being a splatter to being some undead thing's meal.

_At least if I die, it'll be pretty damn dramatic_, I reasoned, setting Jace in front of me on the seat, his chest draped across the handle bars. With one last anxious breath, I revved the engine, then I was racing to the edge of the roof. _If I crash it, at least I get to piss of Raphael._

The wind whipped through my hair, spraying it into my eyes, lashing my face, but I didn't care. All I could think of was the look on Raphael's face when he found his precious bike reduced to no more than a chunk of twisted, contorted metal on the ground below.

"Screw you, bloodsuckers!" I screamed into the sky at the top of my lungs.

That was the last completely sane thing I said or thought, because suddenly I was diving off the side of the building and wondering why I hadn't hit the ground.

* * *

**You all better review this chapter because I had to rewrite it five times after I tried to save it and it DELETED it instead. I know. Stupid save button. :( That would be the thing to blame if this chapter isn't as long as you hoped it would be or if some parts don't make sense. It was originally twice the length. . . .**


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